On the other side of the criminal justice spectrum, there is Germany, a nation with a shaky and complex history. Until October of 1990, Germany was divided into two separate nations, West Germany and East Germany. The criminal justice system existing in modern Germany represents a combination of “Civil Law” as well as “Common Law.” The history and culture of Germany is deeply rooted into the crafting and maintenance of the German criminal justice system. In Germany, “obedience to the laws of the state, and firm discipline conforming itself with these laws, are, in Germany thought to be the most needful things in public life (Hartmann, 1911). This attitude towards obedience and discipline is seen throughout German history and is still to this …show more content…
Each state, under the German constitution, has the authority to generate individual police law and force. Furthermore, each state has various divisions in the police force. The major divisions include the Schutzpolizeiz, the Kriminalpolizei, and the Bundesgrenzshutz (Dammer & Albanese, 2011, p. 100-101). The Schutzpolizeiz are the general police force that handles most aspects of law enforcement. The Kriminalpolizei are private, “plainclothes” police that process more serious cases and investigations. The Bundesgrenzshutz fall into two categories: border police and police handling terrorist-related matters (Dammer & Albanese, 2011, p. 100-101). As mentioned before, the German judicial system follows a combination of Civil Law and Common Law and furthermore grants the right to a counsel, as well as the right to bail. Although the defendant does not appear before a jury, the defendant will appear before a panel of judges who will hear the defendants cases and decide through majority vote whether the accused is guilty or not. The accused also has the right to remain silent for the entirety of the case and allow the appointed counsel to speak instead ("The German Code of Criminal Procedure ", …show more content…
The three courts are broken into: “(1) ordinary courts, which handle criminal and most civil cases; (2) specialized courts, which hear cases related to administrative issues; and (3) constitutional courts, which deal with judicial review and constitutional interpretation” (Dammer & Albanese, 2011, p. 157). All courts in Germany, besides the Federal Supreme Court of Justice, are state courts, meaning all judges operate under the state in which they reside, instead of the federal government (Krey, 1999). In the ordinary court system, the court is broken into four tiers, which consist of the Amtsgerichte, the Landgericht, the Oberlandesgerichte courts, and the Bundesgerichte. The Amtsgerichte deals with minor and local crimes and is often staffed by a single judge instead of a panel. The Landgericht are regional courts that try major criminal and civil cases. The Oberlandesgerichte courts deal with cases mostly relating to treason and “anti-constitutional” behavior. Germany’s specialized courts operate on the local, regional, and federal level and deal with “social security, labor, tax law, and administrative law, and patent law” (Dammer & Albanese, 2011, p.
The Gestapo was an information gathering and law enforcing body of the Nazi regime, which began its operation in 1933. The organization has been examined though many lenses, some more popular than others. The article, “ The Gestapo and German Society” by Robert Gellately argues how ultimately it was society that fueled the Gestapo’s power beyond the limits of what they could have achieved without society’s help. Other perspectives into the analysis of the Gestapo have included the organizations legal history and insights into key leaders such as Henirich Himmler. What some of these other perspectives lack is a thorough assessment of the Gestapo’s operations. Gellately created a compelling argument by determining what led to a Gestapo case being initiated and the number of employees per branch compared to the population to conclude that the Gestapo lacked the physical resources to be the motor of the terror system within the Nazi regime. Yet, the author leaves room to argue that German society had adequate reason to fear the brutal behaviour of the Gestapo regardless of private citizen’s cooperation in cases.
instant postwar penal code of German, which remained first-degree murder could merely be 'for stand intentions' that did not incorporate 'unflustered' contribution in mass killing note. However, executor evidence as well as the Milgram note points that even at the time the wish to obey the group remains a most important ground for somebody performing a dissipated group act. They more or less constantly structure their conformity on “Just Following Orders,” (Estlund 221).
In America we have common law just like Canada. Article III of the constitution is what established the judicial system. The bottom is just the local courts and then state courts. There is also the federal court system where judges are nominated by the president then confirmed by the Senate. These courts include: the 94 district courts, Tax court, Court of Appeals, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Court of Claims, and Court of Military Appeals. With most courts of the United States, juries are the ones who decide whether one is guilty or not. The constitution calls for the creation of the Supreme Court and leaves the responsibility of creating the inferior courts to Congress.
Kürten’s small crimes soon led toward short prison sentences, multiple misdemeanors which occurred for several years. As he was jailed the conditions of his environment confirmed Kürten’s sadistic behavior as he moves from animals to human victims. The more that Kürten was sentence to jail the more his rage against the German society and capacity for crimality grew. He soon discovered a fascination with brutal sexual acts while in solitary confinement; the fascination grew so much that he would break prison rules to ensure t...
The differences between the German and the American correctional systems are far-reaching. Simply by looking at recent incarceration statistics, one can tell that practices must vary greatly. In 2011, the Department of Justice in Washington reported a total prison population of 2,239,751 prisoners and detainees in the United States ("International Centre for Prison Studies", 2011). This translates to a prison population rate of 716 per 100,000 of national population. The prison occupancy level based on official capacity was determined to be 99%. In the same year in Germany, the State Ministries of Justice across the 16 G...
The criminal trial process is able to reflect the moral and ethical standards of society to a great extent. For the law to be effective, the criminal trial process must reflect what is accepted by society to be a breach of moral and ethical conduct and the extent to which protections are granted to the victims, the offenders and the community. For these reasons, the criminal trial process is effectively able to achieve this in the areas of the adversary system, the system of appeals, legal aid and the jury system.
They are the impartial third-party whose responsibility is to deliver a verdict for the accused based on the evidence presented during trial. They balance the rights of society to a great extent as members of the community are involved. This links the legal system with the community and ensures that the system is operating fairly and reflecting the standards and values of society. A trial by jury also ensures the victim’s rights to a fair trial. However, they do not balance the rights of the offender as they can be biased or not under. In the News.com.au article ‘Judge or jury? Your life depends on this decision’ (14 November 2013), Ian Lloyd, QC, revealed that “juries are swayed by many different factors.” These factors include race, ethnicity, physical appearance and religious beliefs. A recent study also found that juries are influenced by where the accused sits in the courtroom. They found that a jury is most likely to give a “guilty” verdict if the accused sits behind a glass dock (ABC News, 5 November 2014). Juries also tend to be influenced by their emotions; hence preventing them from having an objective view. According to the Sydney Morning Herald article ‘Court verdicts: More found innocent if no jury involved’ (23 November 2013), 55.4 per cent of defendants in judge-alone trials were acquitted of all charges compared with 29 per cent in jury trials between 1993 and 2011. Professor Mark Findlay from the University of Sydney said that this is because “judges were less likely to be guided by their emotions.” Juries balance the rights of victims and society to a great extent. However, they are ineffective in balancing the rights of the offender as juries can be biased which violate the offender’s rights to have a fair
Germany is one of the countries that don't have a jury system. Instead, they use judges. Judges determine if you are guilty or not guilty and give out the sentences. Citizens sit with the judges, but they don't really get any say in the verdict. The number of judges in a case, depends on the case that is being presented.
One example focused on this paper is American Justice. The program ``American Justice ' entails outrageous crimes, as perceived through police process, t...
The criminal justice system is always criticized for a range of issues concerning the injustices that has taken place throughout history and even today. Many political leaders and social activists have sought to reform the criminal justice system; however, some have realized that there are systematic barriers that inhibit reformation. Political ...
...t is extremely extensive and elaborate, far different from its humble beginnings (Schmalleger 145). American government has expanded much over the decades to include 14 departments and 28 non-departmental conglomerates, each with its own direction and purpose concerning a specific area needing law enforcement; in addition to new entities, there also are at least 137,929 officers employed by the government (Schmalleger 145). All officers and departments work continuously and uniformly in order to administer justice as properly and swiftly as possible.
The criminal justice system is composed of three parts – Police, Courts and Corrections – and all three work together to protect an individual’s rights and the rights of society to live without fear of being a victim of crime. According to merriam-webster.com, crime is defined as “an act that is forbidden or omission of a duty that is commanded by public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.” When all the three parts work together, it makes the criminal justice system function like a well tuned machine.
So, in a time of social, political and economic change it makes sense that how we enforce the law and systems of punishment would begin to shift into the public eye. Gunther claims that we have a criminal processing system, rather than a criminal justice system; But what makes a criminal justice system an impartial justice oriented system rather than the harsh, biased and unfair processing mechanism that Gunther saw? For this, we look to Packer’s four assumptions of a justice system.
The criminal justice system views any crime as a crime committed against the state and places much emphasis on retribution and paying back to the community, through time, fines or community work. Historically punishment has been a very public affair, which was once a key aspect of the punishment process, through the use of the stocks, dunking chair, pillory, and hangman’s noose, although in today’s society punishment has become a lot more private (Newburn, 2007). However it has been argued that although the debt against the state has been paid, the victim of the crime has been left with no legal input to seek adequate retribution from the offender, leaving the victim perhaps feeling unsatisfied with the criminal justice process.
The Swedish Criminal Justice System is one by comparison to other countries, a well oiled machine. Before recognizing the aspects of the criminal justice system of Sweden, there is some history that has to be brought into the light. Sweden and Finland are very similar in comparison, whether that is the close geographical position of both countries or the similarities of cultures or maybe due to the fact that they are both apart of the Nordic Welfare State. Sweden and Finland both have the world’s oldest homicide statistics, which started in the mid-1700’s. Sweden, like many other countries has been through multiple political-social changes and developments throughout the last few centuries. They did not participate in either of the World Wars,