Rate My Professor Sonja Meijer

Sonja Meijer is Full Professor of Criminal and Procedural Law at the Faculty of Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where she also serves as Full Professor at the Kooijmans Institute and in the Research Programmes on Empirical and Normative Studies. She was Full Professor of Penitentiary Law at Radboud University Nijmegen until December 1, 2025. At VU Amsterdam, she acts as substitute head of the Department of Criminal Law and programme director of the Empiricism and Norm research programme in the Departments of Criminal Law and Criminology. Since June 1, 2016, she has been councillor and domain holder for the prison system at the Advisory Division of the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles (RSJ). From 2013 to 2021, she served as deputy judge at the Amsterdam District Court. She holds Senior and Basic Qualifications in Education and regularly acts as guest speaker, lecturer in PAO courses, and chair or member of WODC supervisory committees. She welcomes PhD proposals in criminal procedural law and penitentiary law.

Meijer's research specializes in criminal procedural law, sanctions law (imposition and enforcement of sentences and measures), detention law, and penology, combining legal-normative, empirical, and comparative methods. She earned her LL.M. in Criminal Law and Civil Law from Erasmus University Rotterdam on July 22, 2003, and began her doctorate at Tilburg University on October 15, 2006. In 2016, she was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Penal Theory and Penal Ethics, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. Key publications include the co-edited volume Fundamental Rights and Legal Consequences of Criminal Conviction (Hart Publishing, 2019, with H. Annison and A. O'Loughlin), Vergelijkend onderzoek 41-bis detentieregime (2023, with S. Struijk and P. Verrest), and WODC studies such as Strafverzwaring in samenhang: De invloed van recente wetgeving op de gevangenisstraf bezien vanuit de wetssystematiek, rechtsvergelijking en praktijk (2026, with M. van Meeteren and S. Buisman), Recidive na drie geweldsmisdrijven (2024, with M. van Meeteren, I. Achten, and C. Immink), and De zucht naar vrijheid (2019, with M. Hirsch Ballin, M. Cupido, and Y. Piekhaar). She is an editorial board member of Sancties, sub-editor for the Vrijheidsstraf section of Delikt en Delinkwent and the Penitentiair Recht section of KwartaalSignaal Ars Aequi, and annotator for provisions on penalties in Tekst & Commentaar Strafrecht and Book 6 of Tekst & Commentaar Strafvordering.