Without a defense attorney: Many people in criminal warrant proceedings cannot afford a lawyer.
Image: Michael Braunschädel
Convictions by criminal warrant are controversial. Critics say this puts people on the fringes of society at a disadvantage. In Frankfurt, criminal lawyers and the Goethe University are now starting a project that is intended to provide data.
In Germany, people can be convicted without having been in court. This is possible with the criminal warrant procedure. It applies to minor offenses that are punishable at least with a prison sentence of less than one year or a fine. In the case of a penalty order, the district court, at the request of the public prosecutor, sets a daily penalty to be paid without there having been a public main hearing.
This can be an advantage for the convicted person. This is particularly important for the already overburdened judiciary because crimes can be dealt with more quickly. The figures show that the opportunity is often used: Hesse's public prosecutor's office applied for more than 40,000 criminal orders last year, around a quarter of them at the Frankfurt district court.
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