Testimonials

A great stepping stone to a successful career in the criminal justice field

"This LLM has enabled me to develop both academically and professionally. Throughout the academic year, I learned a set of skills which allowed me to put the knowledge acquired into practice, and ultimately to secure relevant traineeship opportunities in the field. Indeed, carrying out (legal) research, writing research papers and delivering oral presentations have all proven to be fundamental to securing a position as a Public Information intern at the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute. I believe that the knowledge that I acquired during the programme certainly helped me to substantiate my motivation letters when applying for the Blue Book traineeship at the EU Commission and later on to actually contribute to the work of my unit there. I was able to present the results of my master’s thesis and point to different assignments I wrote to demonstrate that I had the competencies and skills that they were looking for."

Alumnus Anna Terrone (Italy)


An excellent opportunity to explore the challenges surrounding criminal justice in Europe and beyond

In the past few decades, it has become clear that no area of national law can escape the influence of European Union law. This process began in national administrative law, before moving on to private law, and more recently to criminal law. Against this backdrop, EU criminal justice policy and legislation are increasingly prevalent, while the number of cases concerning criminal law appearing before the CJEU is steadily growing.

Do you want to understand this process and its impact on criminal law? Do you want to contribute to the development of this intriguing area of law? Then it is essential that you familiarise yourself with the relevant parts of EU law itself, and with the criminal justice systems of the Member States. The European Criminal Justice programme at Utrecht University offers, in my view, an excellent opportunity to prepare for current and future challenges surrounding criminal justice in Europe and beyond.

Sacha Prechal, Judge at the Court of justice of the European Union