Germany's Court System

CRJ PT 2
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CRJ PT 2
A defendant charged with assault in Germany is likely to experience a somewhat different scenario in Germany compared to the United States. First, Germany's court system is non-adversarial, meaning that the system takes on a more investigative role. For instance, judges take an active role in investigations, while law enforcement officers are mandated to investigate circumstances that potentially incriminate and exonerate the accused individual (Schlun & Elseven, 2022). Similarly, the defense lawyer takes on the role of protecting their client's rights. Some issues that the defendant can expect during trial include an appearance before an investigating judge at least the day after arrest. The defendant also does not have access to the charge sheet, but their lawyer may access a summary of the charges. Typically, assault and aggravated assault cases are viewed case-by-case (Baker McKenzie's Resource Hub, n.d.). However, defendants can expect between six months and ten years of prison time.
The German penal system differs from the U.S. in that it focuses primarily on rehabilitation and reintegration. First, the criminal justice system appears less driven towards using prison time as the primary method of punishing crime. Impliedly, prison sentences are shorter and often accompanied by alternative interventions such as fines and community-based interventions. The system appears to recognize that despite making wrong decisions, criminals are still human and deserve respect. According to Duran (2018), the country's prison system stands out in stark contrast with that of the U.S. in that the former seeks to humanize its inmates to transform them into productive members of the community. This approach is founded on research that shows that morally humanizing offenders has benefits for rehabilitation (Coverdale, 2021). Therefore, imprisoned persons in Germany go through programs designed to re-socialize and empower them in readiness for subsequent reintegration.
Two of the most prominent ethical issues manifesting in Germany's court and corrections systems include the remuneration of offenders and the inequalities that define the treatment of behaviorally challenged minority offenders. First, offenders have complained that they are paid too low for the prison labor they offe...