Criminal Justice in Germany Facts and Figures

The goal of the report is to describe the operation of the German criminal justice system and provide the latest available data for each stage of the criminal justice process, from the police level through prosecution, sentencing, probation, and reconviction. Data also describe the penal institutions in Germany, such as the scale and nature of imprisonment and information about prisoners and length of imprisonment. This year's report focuses on the special topic of Offender-Victim Mediation, which has received greater attention in Germany since 1999, quadrupling in use since 1993. The number of crimes recorded by police has risen steadily since 1963; there were 5.3 million recorded crimes in 1993, more than 3 times the number of crimes recorded in 1963. Serious crimes against the person are rare, with only 4 homicides recorded for every 100,000 inhabitants. Once suspects are arrested, crime cases are passed from the police to the Public Prosecution Office, which dealt with 4,766,070 investigative proceedings at the regional and local court level and 2,604 investigative proceedings at the higher regional court level in 2003. Following a description of how the courts are organized and how they process cases, data are offered on the sentencing of adults and juveniles. The number and type of probation orders, as well as the reasons for the probation orders, are reviewed and data on re-conviction is presented that shows only approximately 35 percent of juveniles who were released from prison in 1994 were re-convicted during the 4 years directly following release. Annex, bibliography, tables.