Yannick van den Brink

Professor Yannick van den Brink is a Full Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) since October 2024 and Head of the Department of Criminal Law since July 2024. He holds affiliations as a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology and a research fellow at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR). He concurrently serves as a deputy judge in the Youth Court of the District Court of The Hague.

Education: He earned a LL.B. (cum laude) and LL.M. in Criminal Law (cum laude) from Utrecht University (2009–2011), a MA in Criminology (cum laude) from Utrecht University (2012), and a PhD in Law from Leiden University (2018).

Research focuses on fundamental rights in youth and criminal justice decision-making, particularly addressing inequality. His current project, funded by NWO’s Veni grant (2024–2027), examines disparities in youth justice decision-making. He previously held roles as an associate professor at VU (2021–2024), NWO Rubicon Research Fellow at Cambridge (2019–2022), and assistant professor at Leiden University (2016–2021).

Awards include the FJR-Prijs (2012, 2018), NWO Rubicon Grant (2019), and the Cambridge Humanities Research Grant (2023). He contributes to policy through advisory roles at the Dutch Ministry of Justice and national institutes like WODC and UNICEF.