- criminal procedure;
- criminal defence;
- human rights;
- European cooperation in criminal matters.

Following her graduation from the Utrecht University Faculty of Law in 1979, she worked as advocate and defence counsel in private practice in Maastricht the Netherlands. From 1987 onwards she was lecturer in Criminal Law at the University of Maastricht. She is the founder of the University legal aid clinic (Advocatenpraktijk Universiteit Maastricht) in 1988 and was coordinator of this legal aid clinic during the first eight years.
In 2002 she became Professor of Criminal Defence and in 2005 Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Maastricht.

Publications in Metis >>

She teaches on criminal procedure, human rights and legal ethics. She is Director of the Master Forensics, Criminology and Legal Practice.

Taru has been Co-Chair of the Legal Development Committee of the European Criminal Bar Association and is member of the board of the Dutch Association of Defence Counsel and is Chair of the Advisory Committee on Criminal Law of the Dutch Bar Association. She is executive editor of the Nieuwsbrief Strafrecht and “ de rubriek Advocatuur” in Delikt and Delinkwent, contributor of criminal law to the Nederlands Juristenblad and Substitute Judge in the Court of Appeal of Arnhem the Netherlands.