Opzet en toerekening bij medeplegen
PhD ceremony: | Mr A. (Anne) Postma |
When: | March 20, 2014 |
Start: | 16:15 |
Supervisor: | prof. dr. F. Vellinga-Schootstra |
Co-supervisor: | prof. mr. dr. H.D. (Hein) Wolswijk |
Where: | Academy building RUG |
Faculty: | Law |
'Medeplegen' - a Dutch mode of participation in crime - is based
on close cooperation of two or more collaborators
(‘medeplegers’). In case of medeplegen, collaborators
are mutually liable for acts performed within the scope of the
collaboration. Postma’s thesis focuses on cases in which the
common plan is carried out in a different way by one of the
collaborators than foreseen by the other collaborator. For example,
in the course of a burglary the owner is being killed by one of the
collaborators, whereas the common plan only encompassed burglary.
Which legal principles (should) determine the liability of the
other collaborator for deviations of the common plan? In this
respect, medeplegen is compared with two other modes of
participation: ‘Mittäterschaft’ (German law) and
joint criminal enterprise (law of England).
In these modes of participation, foresight plays a major role in
delimiting criminal responsibility – the liability of a
collaborator is extended to the attendant risks that he has
foreseen (and accepted). However, collaborators often do not take
into account risks that attend the execution of the common plan. As
a consequence, to reach a desirable verdict judges are more or less
forced to lower the threshold for proof of ‘foresight’.
It is argued, that this undesirable consequence can be prevented to
a large degree when causality is being given a more significant
role within the concept of medeplegen. The approach upholded, aims
to give a better legal basis for the delimitation of the liability
of the ‘medepleger’.