NCJ Number
85828
Journal
Monatsschrft fuer Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform Volume: 64 Issue: 1-2 Dated: (February-March 1981) Pages: 62-81
Date Published
1981
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Social work court assistance services to adult defendants at the pretrial and trial levels of criminal proceedings are being instituted in West Germany as a consequence of the 1967 legal code reforms.
Abstract
At present, the law allows recourse to social worker inquiry into the personal and social circumstances of the accused in cases where the prosecution or the court deem it necessary. However, the role and authority of social workers in the court assistance service is poorly defined and further legislative amendments will be required to the criminal procedures code. Organizationally placed in the court's rather than the client's service, court assistance workers are experiencing conflicts with the autonomous, client-oriented and confidential aspects of professional social work. Court assistance officers inquire into facts of a defendant's personnel life that are relevant to sentencing and submit a report to prosecutors and judges, which subsequently becomes a part of the case file. Thus, assistance officers are under obligation to inform clients (i.e., the accused) of the right to not answer self-incriminating questions because assistance officers may subsequently be called upon to testify before the court. Status, organizational arrangements, and responsibilities of the social assistance service within the court structure are not uniform among the West German States. The service is still a fledgling effort in the process of being institutionalized. One table and 69 footnotes are provided.