ACCELERATION OF CRIMINAL PRECEEDINGS. GERMAN REPORT

• Authors: Doelling D. , Goessel K.H. , Laue Ch.
• Languages of publication: DE

Abstracts

EN

In this report, different positive legal principles of the obligation to expedite criminal proceedings are looked at. As regards the international law, special emphasis is put on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Due to the extensive adjudication of the European Court Of Human Rights, the obligation to expedite criminal proceedings according in Art, 6 § 1 of the ECHR has significantly taken shape. The question whether criminal proceedings are too long and thus violate the rights of a person charged seems to be cleared lo large extent. German courts are also concerned about lengthy proceedings. The Federal Constitutional Court acknowledges that the constitutional embodiment of the right to a decision within a due period of time is comprised in the right of personal liberty (Art. 2 of the German Constitution) in relation to the principle of the due course of law. The Federal High Court of lustice applies directly Art. 6 § 1 of the ECHR which in Germany has the same status as German regulations. In German jurisprudence the legal consequences of the excessively long criminal proceedings are in the foreground. The extra long proceedings can only in rare exceptional cases be regarded as an obstacle in the proceedings and, as a rule, the consequence is the mitigation of the penalty. The second part of this report deals with the particular provision of the German Code of Criminal Procedure in regard to the obligation to expedite proceedings. There is no explicit positive legal obligation to expedite the proceedings in the code, but many separate provisions affect positively the conclusion of proceedings in due time.

Keywords

EN

EUROPEAN CONVENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS; GERMAN BASIC LAW.; GERMAN LAW OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS; IIMITS OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Discipline

• LAW_&_ADMINISTRATION: LAW & ADMINISTRATION

• Publisher: The Kraków Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Archivum Iuridicum Cracoviense
• Year: 2004
• Volume: 37-38
• Pages: 19-94
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Doelling D.

author

Goessel K.H.

author

Laue Ch.

• D. Doelling, Institut fuer Kriminologie, Universitaet Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

08PLAAAA04158090