Traditionally, the Netherlands is characterized as one of the most liberal countries in the world. Although the concept of “liberal” is difficult to define, a great number of scholars agree that liberalism means promotion of individual liberty, freedom of choice, and government neutrality in matters of personal morality (Berlin 1969; Unger 1976; Dworkin 1978; Ackerman 1980; MacIntyre 1981; Young 2002). The liberal image of the Netherlands is said to be a consequence of the seemingly tolerant attitude of the legislator, judiciary, and authorities toward controversial issues such as drug use, euthanasia, and prostitution (Cohen-Almagor 2005; Buruma 2007; Spapens et al. 2015).

However, when it comes to prostitution, it is doubtful whether this picture is based on reality, since it is now well established, from a variety of studies, that characterization of Dutch prostitution policy as laissez-faire is too simplistic. An explanation for this misunderstanding is that, from a legal research perspective, the regulation of prostitution in the Netherlands has been largely neglected.

Although several authors have published papers about prostitution in a Dutch context, a literature review reveals that the vast majority of these studies have analyzed prostitution from a sociological, criminological, political science, or gender studies perspective. For example, Kilvington, Day, and Ward, as well as Zeegers and Althoff compared the Dutch and Swedish prostitution policies (Kilvington et al. 2001; Zeegers and Althoff 2015), Weitzer compared the Dutch approach toward prostitution with the criminalization of prostitution in America (Weitzer 2012), and Huisman and Kleemans critically assessed the logic of the dominant idea that human trafficking is reduced when actors in the legalized prostitution sector are made responsible for what happens on their premises (Huisman and Kleemans 2014). Furthermore, Wagenaar and Altink argued that prostitution policy is less developed than more established policy domains, such as health, education, social welfare, or the environment and suggested some conditions to prevent prostitution policy from entering the realm of morality politics and to arrive at an effective and humane form of policymaking (Wagenaar and Altink 2012). Finally, Outshoorn’s research focused on prostitution policies from a women’s studies perspective. In 2004, she examined the legalization of brothels in the Netherlands in 2000, and focused on the Women’s Movement and its influence on lifting the ban on brothels (Outshoorn 2004a; Outshoorn 2004b). In 2012, she discussed the changes in prostitution policy in the Netherlands by examining the policy discourse frames of the major actors in the prostitution debates (Outshoorn 2012).

As far as we know, Brants is one of the few legal scholars who has published a more legally orientated research paper on the regulation of prostitution in an international (non-Dutch) academic journal (Brants 1998). She examined the possible consequences of the intended legalization of commercial prostitution in 2000, after being tolerated for decades. Brants concluded that the prostitution policy in Amsterdam had taken regulated tolerance to its limits and predicted that legalization of the prostitution sector would make little difference. Nevertheless, she warned of the counterproductive effects of the new regulatory policy: licensing, higher costs, and tighter administrative control. This would push small brothel owners and other segments of the prostitution population out of the market.Footnote 1 She also warned that the prostitution sector would be controlled by a limited group of people and that financially weak prostitutes would disappear into illegality.

In 2014, the criminologists Huisman and Nelen presented a short description and analysis of the latest developments in the prostitution sector in the Netherlands and, in particular, developments in the red-light district of Amsterdam since the publication of Brants’ paper (Huisman and Nelen 2014). Their study revealed that the majority of Brants’ predictions have come true, but that she did not foresee that the Netherlands would tighten up prostitution legislation so relatively soon after lifting the ban on brothels in 2000.

All the research presented above has focused on a specific period in the regulation of prostitution. The added value of this paper compared to previous research is that it provides an in-depth legal assessment of the changes and trends in the regulation of prostitution in the Netherlands between the beginning of the twentieth century and 2017. Furthermore, our paper focuses on the rationales of this legislation instead of assessing the effects of the prostitution legislation (cf. Brants 1998; Huisman and Nelen 2014). This paper aims to analyze the legal narratives that substantiate the legal rules laid down in both Dutch criminal and administrative law concerning the regulation of prostitution since the beginning of the twentieth century. It deals specifically with the political debate prior to the changes in prostitution legislation.Footnote 2 As far as we know, no other legal or specialized scholar has conducted such an analysis before.

Our analysis starts at the beginning of the twentieth century for a number of reasons. First, this enables us to provide a deeper insight into the various ways in which prostitution has been regulated in the Netherlands. Moreover, the legislation concerning prostitution introduced in 1911 was actually still in force in the year 2000. Since then, Dutch legislation has reformed the regulation of prostitution drastically. Therefore, looking back to the beginning of the twentieth century is necessary in order to understand and to fathom the various reforms of prostitution legislation.

The research questions, which are the basis of this paper, follow from the above. How has the Dutch legislator regulated the prostitution sector since the beginning of the twentieth century? What were the different attitudes of the legislator toward prostitution during this period? What reasons were used to substantiate the choices made? Answering these questions will enable us to obtain broad insight into Dutch prostitution policy over the years, which in turn will help us to interpret and explain current prostitution policy in the Netherlands. Finally, it will enable us to assess whether the liberal and tolerant image of the Netherlands with regard to prostitution anno 2017 corresponds with the reality on the ground.

To answer these questions, we will analyze three different periods in Dutch prostitution legislation: past, present, and future. In these three periods, we will reconstruct the legislator’s attitude toward prostitution using insights from theoretical work on prostitution, models designed to regulate this phenomenon, and the legitimating grounds for application of both criminal and administrative law.

The investigation offered in this paper is relevant for both readers and scholars within and outside the Netherlands. The Netherlands is always seen as a pioneer in the area of regulating prostitution, and this paper gives a “state of the art” overview of the way prostitution is regulated by the Dutch legislator. In this way, it provides a relevant insight into the situation with regard to prostitution in the Netherlands. This paper also aims to develop an analytical framework that can be useful in comparative legal research. We think that developing a more appropriate framework will lead to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the regulation of prostitution in different countries.

The methodological approach taken in this paper is varied (Creswell 2014). It is based around a literature review of theoretical studies on the regulation of prostitution, and a doctrinal legal analysis of legislation and leading academic literature. The doctrinal analysis includes an in-depth analysis of parliamentary proceedings. Therefore, we will examine all parliamentary documents about the written reports and the oral debate on the legislation proposals regarding prostitution.Footnote 3 We will critically assess the essential features of the parliamentary documents concerning prostitution legislation, and combine and synthesize all the relevant elements to establish a correct and complete understanding of Dutch prostitution legislation and its developments since the beginning of the twentieth century (Watkins and Burton 2013).

This paper will be divided into six parts. First, we will describe our analytical framework, which is based on various theoretical constructs concerning the regulation of prostitution. This framework will help us to gain a deeper and more nuanced perspective on the way prostitution is regulated. It also allows us the opportunity to analyze and compare the different periods of Dutch prostitution regulation.

The subsequent sections discuss the different periods of Dutch prostitution regulation, starting at the beginning of the twentieth century with the tightening of decency legislation high on the government’s agenda. This eventually led in 1911 to the “Act against Immorality,” prohibiting the running of brothels and pimping. However, what is known as “the ban on brothels” was quickly ignored and led to noncompliance, and after which a period of laissez-faire began. Although strictly forbidden formally, brothels were secretly allowed and later even openly tolerated. The next sections examine the “Act against Immorality” and assess the enforcement (or lack thereof) of this Act after its adoption.

The ban on brothels being removed from the Dutch Criminal Code in 2000 and the introduction of a decentralized system of regulation is then addressed. This legislative change paved the way for local authorities to introduce a tightly regulated system, within which the scale of prostitution could be managed, the working conditions kept at an acceptable level, and forced prostitution eliminated.

The next section will examine the latest developments in prostitution legislation starting with the national legislator’s new initiative that took place in 2009. This initiative involved amending the regulation of prostitution so that it would include a uniform and national approach to strengthen the fight against abuses in the sex industry. The “Bill Regulation of Prostitution and Combatting Abuses in the Sex Industry” was adopted by the Lower House of Representatives in the summer of 2016. It contained a strict and tight licensing system for sex businesses with an extensive duty of care for brothel owners. We will also take a brief look at recent plans concerning prostitution, as described in the coalition agreement of the new Dutch government, which was installed in October 2017.

The sections mentioned above will lay the foundation for the last section. This section gives a summary of and an explanation for the main developments in the regulation of prostitution in the Netherlands since the beginning of the twentieth century.