#02: ‘You have to learn the rules of the game…’

…and then you have to play better than anyone else.’

These famous words of Albert Einstein seem to be key in many legal disputes and procedures. The criminal procedural code of a country provides the rules for conducting a criminal investigation and the – potential – criminal case afterwards. These rules do not only have to be obeyed in the courtroom, obeying the rules during the criminal investigation is just as important. If the investigation authorities in the Netherlands do not play by the rules, this could (or should) lead to (serious) consequences. Not only should the party involved be compensated for disadvantages in the investigation against him, in our opinion this is also an effective way to control and improve the system. If errors can be made by the authorities without any consequences, there is no reason for them to try to avoid such errors in the future.READ MORE