Belgium's new criminal code takes effect, making prison a last resort

Belgium has begun applying its first new criminal code in nearly 160 years, after an initial launch planned for April was delayed because the computer system and judicial preparations were not ready.

The code, adopted by the Chamber on February 29, 2024, replaces legislation dating from 1867. Damien Vandermeersch, an advocate general at the Court of Cassation and a professor at UCLouvain who helped design the reform, described the previous code as “illegible.” It had been repeatedly revised over decades until it became a confusing collection of amendments.

The new framework is designed to be simpler and easier to understand. It establishes eight levels of penalties and places a new principle at its center: prison should no longer serve as the automatic response, but as the ultimate remedy. The reform argues that long prison sentences have contributed to overcrowding without delivering added security, while detention can leave prisoners worse rather than better prepared to return to society.

Incarceration remains available for dangerous individuals, but the code gives greater priority to a restorative rather than purely punitive approach. The reform also removes the formal distinction between crimes, misdemeanors and offenses. The word crime remains in international criminal law, while level-eight offenses, and some level-seven offenses, are treated as criminal cases.

The most serious defendants can still face trial before a popular jury. At the lower end of the scale, defamation and slander cannot result in imprisonment. The code adds financial penalties tied to the profit obtained from an offense, targeting white-collar offenders and schemes that generate substantial gains. The source also highlights a separate reform of the sexual criminal code, including a rule that consent cannot exist when one partner is intoxicated.

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