Samenvatting

Recently, the punishment order by the prosecutor (article 257a Code of Criminal Procedure) and the leave to appeal system (article 410a Code of Criminal Procedure) have been adopted in Dutch criminal procedural law. Both legal measures have major consequences for the way in which minor criminal offences are dealt with. Viewing both these efficiency-promoting measures from their mutual interconnection, the question rises whether, in the settlement of these minor offences, a full process that actually does justice to all interests involved, may still be spoken of. It is suggested in this contribution that this question requires a more subtanstial revision and reassessment of the enforcement system with regards to minor offences, whereby decriminalisation may also play a pertinent role.