Avoiding a full criminal trial: Fair trial rights, diversions, and shortcuts in Dutch and international criminal proceedings

In modern societies, full criminal trials are avoided on many occasions. This thesis is concerned with mechanisms that either divert from or speed up the proceedings. Koen Vriend argues that the fair trial rights as established by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) provide a normative framework that does not only apply in a full criminal trial, but that it can also be used for diverted and shortened proceedings. He shows that the concept of fairness - as derived from ECtHR case law - is a fundamental principle that underlies all criminal law enforcement. It provides for the appropriate framework to assess whether diverted or shortened proceedings are fair and legitimate.