Number of Criminal Cases in the Caribbean Netherlands Up 80 Percent in Ten Years
KRALENDIJK - The number of criminal cases from the Caribbean Netherlands registered with the Joint Court of Justice has risen by more than 80 percent over ten years. In 2025, there were 290 cases, compared with 160 in 2015. This is according to the report Crime and Law Enforcement 2025 by the Research and Documentation Centre (WODC).
This development does not mean that the number of crimes has risen to the same extent. The figures concern cases registered with the Joint Court of Justice, not all crimes committed on the islands.
Slight decrease compared with 2024
The increase over a ten-year period does not mean that the number of cases has risen every year. In 2024, the Court registered 295 criminal cases from the Caribbean Netherlands. In 2025, there were five fewer, a decrease of approximately 2 percent.
The report examines various components of the criminal justice chain. It also shows that the Public Prosecution Service BES registered a total of 505 suspects of crimes in 2023. In 2015, the figure was 360 suspects, an increase of approximately 40 percent. Compared with 2022, when 495 suspects were registered, the increase was limited.
Meanwhile, the number of crime reports fell from 855 in 2022 to 785 in 2023, a decrease of approximately 8 percent. The figures relate to different components of the criminal justice chain and different reporting years. They therefore cannot be compared directly to draw conclusions about overall crime.
No current picture of victimization
The report also includes figures on victimization and feelings of safety. However, the most recent data in this chapter relate to 2021. In that year, 7.6 percent of residents of the Caribbean Netherlands aged 15 and older had been victims of traditional crime, such as violence, property crime or vandalism. In 2013, the figure was still 16.7 percent.
The share of residents who sometimes felt unsafe also fell over that period: from 28.5 percent in 2013 to 8.3 percent in 2021. Because more recent data are lacking, these figures do not provide a current picture of the safety situation on the islands.
Figures cover all three islands combined
The figures on the criminal justice chain in the WODC report relate to Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba combined. They do not make clear what share of the registered cases relates specifically to Bonaire.
The report describes developments in crime and law enforcement, but offers no detailed explanation for the increase in the number of cases at the Joint Court. The figures mainly show that the number of registered criminal cases has increased over the longer term, while 2025 saw a slight decrease compared with the previous year.
