Criminal justice

The criminal justice system is a contested jurisdiction in the area of ​​criminal matters. She is met by criminal courts.

Germany

The criminal jurisdiction belongs to the ordinary courts ( § 12 GVG ).

The court system in Germany consists of the instance trains District Court ( Chamber: judge or jury court ) - Superior Court ( Chamber: small or large Criminal Division ) - Higher Regional Court ( Chamber: Criminal Division ) - Federal Court. Depending on the seriousness of the offense, the court also begin above the district court. Military tribunals provide another jurisdiction if the accused / defendant at the material time was a soldier. Source of law is the first title of the GVG (based on Article 96 of the Basic Law ).

The original jurisdiction of criminal justice is based on the alleged offense and the punishment to be expected. Basically, the Chamber of the District Court have the responsibility for collecting criminal matters that belong in the other before the District Courts. The expected penalty may not exceed (so-called criminal spell ) four years ' imprisonment. Preventive detention or placement in a psychiatric hospital as measures of correction and prevention may not be imposed by the Chamber of the District Court.

The Chamber of the District Court to decide as a court of appeal for the things of the district courts of first instance in criminal matters or touch the crimes resulting in death ( as a so-called trial by jury ), in simple state security matters and economic criminal matters. In cases of particular significance of the case and the district court can be called as the first instance in the rest. The district court may decide on all measures of correction and prevention. A penalty spell as in the formations of the district court does not exist. The rulings of the Trial Chamber, the small revision to the State Supreme Court is open. The rulings of the trial by jury and other major criminal courts, the appeal of the appeal to the Federal Court.

The original jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeal in criminal matters is genuinely the provincial jurisdiction in certain severe state security offenses and in principle the criminal jurisdiction of the federal government, which is applied in the first instance by the highest courts of the countries in the Organleihe. The list of offenses is limited to the crimes of international criminal code and state security offenses. For certain offenses being edited for political reasons by the Federal Attorney General, the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal is also given. Appeals against the judgments of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, the appeal to the Federal is possible.

International criminal jurisdiction

A separate criminal jurisdiction to supranational international level is the International Criminal Court (ICC ) based in The Hague.