Victims of rape and sexual assault wait an average of two years before their case has been fully processed by the legal system, the NRC reported on Friday.

In 2021, 2,168 rapes and 2,144 sexual assaults were reported to the police but the same year just 195 men were convicted of rape and 234 of sexual assault, the paper said. The paper bases its claim on police and public prosecution department information.

The paper is currently investigating what happens to sex crime cases in the wake of the The Voice scandal.

Not only do cases take years to be dealt with, but victims are not kept properly informed by the police about progress, the paper said.

Both the police and public prosecution department are short of specialist staff to work on sex crimes, but lawyers also say that investigations are shoddy and that officials take too long to start collecting evidence.

Many victims also told the paper they would never have reported the crime to the police if they had known it would take so long to come to court.

The number of sex crimes reported to the police has soared over 25% since the The Voice of Holland sex scandal broke, the AD said last month.

In total, the police received 4,000 reports in the first three months of this year, 1,100 more than during the same period in 2021. The reports include rape, sexual assault, incest, abuse of minors and grooming, the AD said.