Full Criminal Proceedings in Decline

Abstract

Full criminal proceedings are avoided on many occasions. Criminal cases may be diverted from the courts and handled in administrative procedures, cases may be handled solely by the prosecutor or they are handled in a simplified manner by the court. A distinction is made between diversions and shortcuts. Diversions are avoidance mechanisms that infringe upon the principle of nulla poena sine iudicio. Shortcuts to proof infringe upon the full criminal trial because they allow for an abbreviated presentation and discussion of the evidence in front of the trier of fact. Diversions and shortcuts, also referred to as avoidance mechanisms, have to comply with the notion of fairness in criminal proceedings. The notion of fairness is derived from the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. This book examines avoidance mechanisms that infringe upon the ideal type of conducting full criminal proceedings in Dutch and international criminal proceedings.