To improve the way honour cases are dealt with by the Dutch police, a national centre of expertise, the LEC EGG, was set up. When complex cases are at hand, the LEC EGG offers nationwide assistance to the regional police units. In this contribution the authors look into the use of the analysis by the LEC EGG in the courtroom. What role does analysis by the LEC EGG of honour-based violence have in the court’s decision making?

The Dutch prosecutor’s office has set itself the goal of contributing to a safer and just society. This article investigates how a more proactive and innovative approach to the sanctioning of crimes can help towards realizing this goal. The authors take a close look at which types of sanctions could be ‘employed’ for this purpose, and when and how they ought to be executed, in the light of moral retributive and utilitarian theories on punishment. Specifically, the article considers community-sentencing punishments – punishments that are executed locally and in a way that is connected to context (perpetrator, neighbourhood) within which the crime was committed. The authors conclude that a visible connection between the crime and the punishment is vital to achieve the goals set out by the prosecutor’s office. However, at the same time various features of the execution of the punishment need to be considered in order to reach the right effect. This article does not purport to give a single answer these issues, but aspires to indicate where there is unexplored potential in the way community sentences are executed, and hopes to give a framework of what needs to be considered in order to do so effectively.

This article tries to answer the question whether the right to due process, especially for minors receiving a public prosecutor’s penalty decision in the Netherlands is sufficiently guaranteed. To answer this question, formal legislature with respect to this topic, the concept of ‘due process’ as well as the actual legal guarantees for minors, have been explored. In juvenile criminal law, contrary to adult criminal law, the pedagogic aspect plays an important role. The pedagogic point of view is also taken into account. A recent report by the Attorney General of the Dutch Supreme Court showed undoubtedly that after six years of experience, the processes surrounding the instrument of the public prosecutor’s penalty decision are far from being executed flawlessly. Both from a judicial perspective as well as a pedagogic perspective, this is a serious problem. The most important procedural aspects that require substantial improvement are related to determining guilt, attorney accessibility and the presence of parents.