L.E.M. Ritzen

Laurie Ritzen's research focuses primarily on Dutch criminal law, examining how the national criminal justice system responds to evolving societal and technological challenges. Her work combines doctrinal legal analysis with empirical insights from criminal justice practice and, where relevant, situates developments within a broader European legal context. Her research is structured around three interconnected lines: (i) digital and economic crime, with a particular focus on crypto-assets and new forms of offending; (ii) differential effects of criminal law, analysing how criminal law operates across different groups and contexts; and (iii) autonomy, responsibility and criminal liability, exploring questions related to fundamental concepts of criminal law and the boundaries of criminalisation.

She is currently co-leading, together with Suzan van der Aa, a research project funded by the Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek- en Documentatiecentrum (WODC) examining how femicide is recognised and legally assessed in Dutch criminal law practice.