Lay judge: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:54, 24 January 2025

Revision as of 18:35, 1 February 2025

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Except for most crimes for which the [[trier of fact]] is a single professional judge, and serious [[political crime]]s which are tried before a panel of professional judges, in the [[judiciary of Germany]] all charges are tried before mixed tribunals on which lay judges (''{{lang|de|Schöffen}}''; a kind of lay judge) sit side by side with professional judges.{{sfn|Casper|Zeisel|1972|p=141}} Section 263 of the German Code of Criminal Procedure requires a two-thirds majority for most decisions unfavorable to the defendant; denial of probation by simple majority is an important exception.{{sfn|Casper|Zeisel|1972|p=141}} In most cases lay judges do not directly examine documents before the court or have access to the case file.{{sfn|Malsch|2009|p=137}}

The only statutory criterion is that lay judges must be citizens who have not been convicted of, or been under investigation for, a serious crime.{{sfn|Casper|Zeisel|1972|p=182}} However, people "ought not" to be chosen if they are under 25 years old or over 70 years old, very high government officials, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, policemen, ministers, or priests, or don'tdo not live in the community at the time of selection, or have been a lay judge in the past two terms.<ref>[https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gvg/__33.html § 33 GVG]</ref>{{sfn|Casper|Zeisel|1972|p=182}} In addition, people may refuse to serve if they are over 65 years old, members of the federal or state legislatures, doctors, nurses, [[:wikt:druggist|druggists]] if working alone, or housewives if overburdened, or have served as a lay judge in the preceding term.{{sfn|Casper|Zeisel|1972|p=182}} Applications can be made to become a lay judge by interested citizens, but this does not occur often, and welfare institutions, sports clubs, financial and health insurance institutions, trade unions, industrial companies and other [[:wiktionary:public authority|public authorities]] are primarily called upon to nominate candidates. It appears that motivation includes social responsibility, image cultivation, advertising, and participation in [[fine (penalty)|fine]] allocation.{{sfn|Malsch|2009|p=137}}

Lay judges are selected by a selection committee from lists that are approved by municipal councils (''{{lang|de|[[:de:Gemeinderat (Deutschland)|Gemeinderat]]}}'') with a two-thirds majority of attending local councilors.{{sfn|Casper|Zeisel|1972|p=182}}{{sfn|Bell|2006|p=153}} The selection committee consists of a judge from the [[Amtsgericht]], a representative of the state government, and ten "trusted citizens" (''{{lang|de|Vertrauenspersonen}}'') who are also elected by two-thirds of the municipal council, and selects from the list of candidates the number needed to staff the various tribunals.{{sfn|Casper|Zeisel|1972|p=182}}{{sfn|Bell|2006|p=153}} The practice was similar in [[East Germany]].{{sfn|Wolfe|1994|pp=503-504}}