ODS Seeks to Revise "Child Certificate" Law: Lifetime Criminal Record Entries May Be Softened

Lawmakers from the Czech party ODS intend to push for a revision of the new law on the so-called "child certificate" — a register of convictions for serious crimes against children set to take effect in Czechia starting January 2027. The announcement came from former minister Marian Decroix, who cited the need to account for the possibility of an offender's rehabilitation.

"I have never accepted blanket punishment that leaves no room for rehabilitation or individual circumstances," Decroix wrote on Facebook. According to her, fear for children's safety is a weighty argument, but it shouldn't become an excuse to "lump everyone together forever." The politician stressed that she isn't seeking a one-off political gesture but a professionally sound solution, and that she plans to present concrete proposals to her fellow party members in the Chamber of Deputies before revealing the details publicly.

What the Child Certificate Involves

The child certificate is being introduced through an amendment to the criminal code and is due to come into force in January 2027. It's essentially an extract from a register of information relevant to work with children, which will include records of final convictions for serious intentional violent and sexual crimes — murder, causing bodily harm to a child under 15, rape, sexual assault and coercion, using children to produce pornography, and other similar offenses.

Courts will also have discretion to add records of convictions for other intentional crimes to the register if they determine that a person could pose a danger to children. Access to the database will be restricted to specific organizations only — schools, kindergartens, sports institutions, and social services.

A Dispute Over Constitutionality

The critics' main objection concerns how long entries remain in the register: from 20 to 100 years — even if the conviction has already been expunged and erased from the standard criminal record. Deputy Marek Benda told the outlet that he considers this provision deeply unconstitutional. "We will come forward with an amendment. But if that doesn't succeed, I believe the matter will still end up before the Constitutional Court, because a lifelong 'punishment' with no possibility of review is an unconstitutional principle," he said.

Benda emphasized that this isn't about protecting pedophiles — the goal of the amendment, he said, is to ensure regular review of the records and to preserve a measure of humanity even toward those who once crossed the line of the law.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz