Prof. S. Meijer (Sonja)

Sonja Meijer is professor of Penitentiary Law at Radboud University Nijmegen and associate professor of Criminal (procedural) Law at VU University Amsterdam. At the VU, she is also programme leader of the Empiricism and Norm research programme of the Departments of Criminal Law and Criminology, a member of the Executive Board of the Criminal Law Department (since 2014) and chair of the Law Education Committee (since 2017). She is also a councillor at the Advisory Division of the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles (RSJ). From 2013-2021, she also served as a deputy judge at the Amsterdam District Court.

Her teaching and research focus on criminal (procedural) law and, in particular, sanction law (the imposition and enforcement of sentences and measures), prison law and penology. Criminal law and society are inextricably linked in her teaching and research. She focuses on the criminal justice chain as a whole, the criminal objectives pursued within it, criminal justice policies pursued and the rights of both the accused and the victim within it.

Her research combines legal-dogmatic, legal-empirical and comparative research methods.

She has been project leader of several (WODC) studies.
In 2016, she was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Penal Theory and Penal Ethics at the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University.

Sonja is a member of the editorial board of the journal Sancties, sub-editor column Vrijheidsstraf for Delikt en Delinkwent, sub-editor column Penitentiair Recht KwartaalSignaal Ars Aequi. Sonja is an annotator for Tekst & Commentaar Strafrecht of the provisions on penalties in Book 1 Sr for Tekst & Commentaar Strafrecht and Book 6 for Tekst & Commentaar Strafvordering.

She is also a regular guest speaker, lecturer in PAO education, and chair of WODC committees.

She holds a BKO and SKO.