Criminal Justice in Germany: Facts and Figures

• NCJ Number: 172238
• Author(s): J-M Jehle
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 55 pages
• Sale Source: German Federal Ministry of Justice
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: Germany (Unified)

Annotation

In reviewing criminal justice data for Germany, this report covers prosecution, crimes and suspects, sentencing and penal sanctions, probation, and imprisonment.

Abstract

During 1996, 6,647,598 crimes were detected by the police, including 4,420 homicides, 49,080 sexual offenses, 334,793 bodily injury cases, 3,672,655 theft cases, and 187,022 drug offenses. Recorded crimes rose steadily between 1963 and 1996, and violent crimes increased between 1977 and 1996. Almost half of recorded cases were cleared. About 80 percent of suspects were men and most were 21 years of age and older. During 1996, the Public Prosecutor's Office at regional and local courts dealt with 4,204,153 investigative proceedings; 13 percent of these cases resulted in a charge being brought, 16 percent in an application for an order imposing punishment, 6 percent in a conditional discharge, and 21 percent in an unconditional discharge. The main reason for imposing pretrial detention was abscondence or the risk of abscondence. The length of pretrial detention varied widely; 57 percent were detained for up to 3 months and roughly 23 percent were detained for between 3 and 6 months. Main punishments under general criminal law took the form of fines and imprisonment, and most imprisonment terms were under 12 months. Additional sanctions consisted of bans on driving, forfeiture, and confiscation. In total, 683,258 adults were sentenced under general criminal law in 1996 and 80,846 individuals were convicted under juvenile criminal law. Approximately 70 percent of probation periods for adults and 78 percent of probation periods for juveniles were completed successfully. During 1996, 64,704 persons were imprisoned in 219 penal institutions. Slightly more than 70 percent of prisoners were between 21 and 40 years of age, 6.8 percent were juveniles and young adults, 7.7 percent were over 50 years of age, and only 1.5 percent were over 60. A report annex tabulates data on recorded crimes, selected violent crimes, suspects, pretrial detention, and persons judged and sentenced. 19 tables and 27 diagrams