Rijnhard Haentjens’s research in this role will focus on financial fraud: the forms it takes (such as deception, bankruptcy fraud, investment fraud, laundering), the associated penalties, and the application of European criminal justice. Some of the key focus areas in this are the intertwining of penalty systems in the Netherlands, the impact of regulation and jurisprudence in the EU, and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights regarding fraudulent behaviour and the systems and dogma of national criminal justice.

Following his tenure as a judge at the District Court of Rotterdam, Haentjens was vice-president of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal where, since 2002, he has been head of the criminal divisions mainly tasked with handling economic environmental offences, as well as cases involving insider trading and tax or other fraud. Haentjens was also involved in the judicial settlement of prominent fraud cases and is affiliated with the National Fraud Knowledge Centre (Landelijk Kenniscentrum Fraude). Haentjens previously worked as a researcher and lecturer – particularly in the field of special offences and international justice – at Leiden University and the University of Amsterdam (UvA), where he was awarded his doctorate in Economic Criminal Law (particularly the creation of the Commodities Act and its penalties).

Haentjens has provided commentary on the Code on Criminal Procedure (published by Duisterwinkel and Melai), particularly on judicial appeals. He has also written about drugs law, and also frequently on international legal assistance in criminal law. In recent years he has published on sentencing, appeals and financial criminal law. Haentjens is the chief editor of the Sentencing Bulletin and works at the Centre for Dutch Case Law and Judgements of Courts of Fact in Criminal Cases (Nederlandse Jurisprudentie, feitenrechtspraak strafzaken, NJFS). He is currently also deputy justice at the Amsterdam Court of Appeal.