Justice minister Ivo Opstelten on Tuesday publishes a new bill that will radically alter the statute of limitations by preventing criminals whose crimes were committed 12 or more years ago from avoiding punishment.

At the moment, only crimes carrying a life-long sentence are not included in the statute. Opstelten wants to change this to include lesser sentences for murder, rape, people smuggling and child molestation, reports the Telegraaf.
‘It is completely unacceptable that criminals should avoid punishment just because a certain amount of time has elapsed since they committed their crime,’ Opstelten writes in the introduction to his bill.