General criminal law

Criminal law lays down the rules the individual is required to adhere to. If anyone breaks these rules, he is committing a punishable offence and if the public prosecutor so wishes, he will be charged and will have to appear in court.

There are two types of punishable offence: summary offences and criminal offences. Summary offences are relatively minor, criminal offences are more serious. A person caught up in criminal proceedings often has to deal with different judicial bodies. In the Netherlands, there are four bodies that are involved in criminal proceedings: the subdistrict court, the district court, the court of appeal and the Supreme Court.

All lawyers at Meijers Canatan Lawyers are experts in criminal law and have dealt with many high profile national and international cases. Cases include murder and manslaughter, kidnapping, skimming, criminal organisations, vice, violence, drugs and people trafficking. Firm members have the necessary experience in press relations.