In some cases, the police may summon you to appear at the police station because they suspect you of a criminal offence. You are not required to show up, but if you don’t, they may still arrest you at a later date.

If you have any questions about your rights and obligations, you can always contact us. We discuss the options with you and determine what is best for you.

For several years now, the Public Prosecution Service has been authorized to impose an order subject to periodic penalty payments on you as a suspect. This means that a sentence will be imposed on you without the intervention of a judge in your case. In that case you cannot be sentenced to a custodial sentence, such as imprisonment, but you can be fined or community service.

In some cases, a (T)OM hearing may precede the issuance of an order subject to periodic penalty payments, but not always. If you do not agree with the decision, you can object to it. This means that you contest the order subject to periodic penalty payments. You must do this within fourteen days of receipt of the order subject to periodic penalty payments. If you have received an order subject to periodic penalty payments and you do not agree with it, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss how we can help you.

In the case of minor offences, the public prosecutor may decide not to send a minor to the juvenile court, but to discuss the offense and the punishment that the public prosecutor deems appropriate for it. is. This is done during a so-called OM session. The parent(s) or guardian will also receive an invitation from the public prosecutor. Your minor is entitled to free legal assistance from a lawyer in preparation for the hearing and for attending the hearing.

During the Public Prosecution Service hearing, the public prosecutor makes an offer which, if accepted, means that the case will not be forwarded to the juvenile court. The lawyer will check with you and your minor whether the offer is a good one. If your minor has done nothing and the lawyer at the juvenile court expects an acquittal, it is of course not wise to accept an offer.

If the offer is accepted, this will be registered in the minor’s judicial documentation. This judicial documentation is popularly referred to as a criminal record. Such a registration can cause problems when obtaining a certificate of good conduct. It is therefore wise to consult a lawyer prior to the Public Prosecution Service hearing. It happens with some regularity that a lawyer succeeds in getting the case dismissed or that the proposal of the public prosecutor suddenly looks a lot better for the child after the intervention of a lawyer.

If you or your son or daughter have received a summons or if you or your son or daughter have accepted a sentence proposal from the public prosecutor and you do not agree with it, please contact us to see what options you still have. has.

A summons is an official summons to appear before the juvenile court at the court. The summons states where and when your minor and you as parent(s) or guardian must appear before the juvenile court

A minor, in contrast to an adult, is obliged to comply with the summons and therefore to appear before the juvenile court. The parent(s) or guardian of the minor will also be summoned and will also be required to attend. If the summoned parent(s) or guardian do not appear, the juvenile court may adjourn the hearing of the case and issue an order for the parent(s).

The summons includes the so-called indictment, which shows the criminal offense your minor is suspected of committing.

The hearing before the juvenile court differs on a number of points from the hearing before the police judge or the three-judge division of the district court. To find out more about the course of the hearing before the juvenile court, read further under the heading hearing before the juvenile court.

1: Opening of the seat

The criminal court opens the hearing and will first check your personal details to ensure that the right person is present during the hearing. The judge will also tell you that you are not obliged to answer, i.e. grant the so-called caution, and inform you that you must listen carefully to everything that is said during the hearing. After the opening of the hearing, the public prosecutor will speak.

2: Indictment

The public prosecutor works for the Public Prosecution Service, a body responsible for the investigation and prosecution of criminal offences, and will speak on behalf of the Public Prosecution Service during the hearing. After the opening of the hearing by the criminal court, the public prosecutor will inform you of the criminal offense you are suspected of having committed.

3: Investigation by the court

After the public prosecutor has announced what you are suspected of, the judge will ask you a number of questions about the criminal offense and also about you as a person and your personal circumstances. The public prosecutor and your lawyer may also ask you questions about the criminal offense and your personal circumstances.

4: Requisitorial (the point of view of the Public Prosecution Service)

After the investigation by the court, the Public Prosecutor will speak again and the Public Prosecutor will inform the criminal court whether, according to the Public Prosecution Service, there is sufficient evidence in the file and, if so, what punishment the Public Prosecution Service will impose, taking into account your personal circumstances, so requires.

5: Plea (the lawyer’s point of view)

After the public prosecutor’s closing order, your lawyer will speak and your lawyer will conduct the defense for you, the so-called plea. Your lawyer will argue for an acquittal where possible and otherwise for the lowest possible sentence.

6: Reply and rejoinder

The public prosecutor may respond to the plea. The response of the public prosecutor is called a reply. Your lawyer may then respond to the so-called reply of the public prosecutor. This is called duplicate.

7: Last word

As a suspect, you always get the last word from the judge.

8: Closure of investigation and verdict or verdict.

After the last word, the judge closes the session. If the judge deals with the case alone, the judge usually gives an oral verdict straight away. If the case is heard by three judges, the so-called three-judge panel, the verdict will follow fourteen days after the hearing. The judgment in criminal law is called a verdict.

The verdict of the criminal court describes what the criminal court thinks of the case and if the criminal court thinks that you should receive a punishment for this, what punishment you will receive from the criminal court. The criminal court can impose the following punishments and measures on you:

– Imprisonment

– Community service

– Fine

– TBS

– Placement in a psychiatric hospital

– Withdrawal from traffic

– Deprivation of illegally obtained advantage

– Compensation measure

If you do not agree with the verdict of the criminal court, you can almost always appeal against it. The appeal must be lodged within fourteen days of the judgment. The criminal court of appeal will review your entire case. The judges on appeal are called justices. The Advocate General is acting on behalf of the Public Prosecution Service on appeal. The decision on appeal is called a judgment. The appeal is heard at the Court of Appeal.

If you do not agree with the judgment of the Court of Appeal, you have the possibility to appeal in cassation. You then submit the judgment of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the highest court in criminal cases in the Netherlands. The Supreme Court will examine whether the law has been applied correctly in your criminal case. We can also assist you in cassation proceedings.

If you have been acquitted as a suspect in a criminal case or if your criminal case has been dropped, you as a suspect are in most cases entitled to compensation. The costs that are eligible for reimbursement include:

– The costs of your lawyer

– Travel and accommodation costs as a result of the investigation and handling of the case

– Compensation for the damage you have suffered as a result of delays in the prosecution and handling of the case

– Compensation for the days you spent in custody

As a suspect, you are, in principle, entitled to compensation of €130 per day for each day you stay in a police cell and to compensation of €100 per day for each day you stay in a detention center if you have been acquitted or your case has been dropped. As a suspect, you are only entitled to compensation after you have been taken into custody and the right to compensation ends on the day of release.

Even if you have not been acquitted and your case has not been dropped, in some cases you can still claim compensation for the damage resulting from the detention, clinical observation or pre-trial detention you have undergone. You are also entitled to compensation if you have only been convicted of an offense for which pre-trial detention is not permitted.

Would you like to submit a request for compensation? Our lawyers can work with you to see which expenses and damage items can be included in the claim and can arrange for the claim to be submitted. The claim for damages must be submitted within three months after the end of the case. It is therefore important that you contact us as soon as possible after your case has ended, so that if certain pieces of evidence still need to be collected, there is sufficient time for this.