_{The Public Prosecution Service (Settlement) Act (Wet OM-afdoening) provides for the imposition of a sentence in a criminal law context without court intervention by issuing a “punishment order” (strafbeschikking). The Act has been gradually phased in, starting on 1 February 2008 with the implementation of the punishment order issued by the public prosecutor (Art. 257a, Code of Criminal Procedure, Wetboek van strafvordering, Sv). In 2010, the police punishment order was introduced (art. 257b Sv) and, in 2012, the administrative punishment order (art. 257ba Sv).}

_{The Act has been evaluated by researchers at the department of Criminal Law and the Bonger Institute of Criminology, Faculty of Law.}

Abels, D., Benschop, A., Blom, T., Coster van Voorhout, J., Korf, D.J., Liebregts, N., & Vriend, K. (2018). Evaluatie Wet OM-Afdoening. Amsterdam: Rozenberg Publishers.