Ancillary (Adhesion) Proceedings in Germany as Shaped by the First Victim Protection Law: An Attempt To Take Stock (From Resource Material Series No. 56, P 102-113, 2000, Hiroshi Iitsuka and Rebecca Findlay-Debeck, eds. -- See NCJ-191475)

• NCJ Number: 191483
• Author(s): Eberhard Siegismund
• Date Published: December 2000
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: Japan
• Note: Work product of the 112th UNAFEI International Training Course, “Participation of the Public and Victims for More Fair and Effective Criminal Justice.”

Annotation

This paper provides an overview of Germany's Victim Protection Law and its provision for ancillary proceedings and advocates the use of victim-offender mediation as a means of addressing the failure of German courts to promote ancillary proceedings for the benefit of crime victims.

Abstract

Germany's Victim Protection Law aims to improve reparation for damages to victims within the criminal proceeding, primarily by broadening the use of ancillary proceedings. Ancillary proceedings allow for the criminal and civil-law consequences of a criminal offense to be addressed within a single set of proceedings, so as to allow victims to assert their rights quickly and easily. In practice, however, Germany's judges, public prosecutors, and legal professionals tend to avoid ancillary proceedings, because they consider them to be "anathema to criminal proceedings." This may be because the conditions attached to culpability under the criminal law and those applicable to claims for damages under civil law are too dissimilar in German law. In response to the failure of the courts to pursue ancillary proceedings on behalf of victims, the Federal Ministry of Justice is currently considering enshrining victim-offender mediation in criminal procedural law. The draft wording is as follows: "At all stages in the proceedings, the public prosecutor and the court shall examine the possibility of achieving a settlement between the accused and the aggrieved person and, in suitable cases, take steps to achieve this." This "appellate norm" is intended to achieve more widespread use of victim-offender mediation in practice by ensuring that the public prosecutor and the court must, except in manifestly unsuitable cases, examine whether a settlement between the accused and the aggrieved person can be achieved. It is apparent that victim-offender mediation will be used to a greater degree to help victims of crime escape the psychological, social, and financial problems that can result from crime. 60 footnotes