Justice
The number of unfinished procedures continues to rise
According to the Association of Judges, public prosecutors nationwide received around 5.4 million new cases last year – more than ever before. photo
© Monika Skolimowska/dpa
Hatred and agitation on the internet, complex investigations, few lawyers. A mountain of unfinished work is piling up in public prosecutors nationwide.
The figures are based on a survey of the judicial administrations of the federal states carried out by the “Deutsche Richterzeitung” published by the Association of Judges. Only the proceedings against named defendants were taken into account, as it was said.
Particularly significant increase in Hamburg
According to the information, the situation in Hamburg has particularly deteriorated: in a two-year comparison, the number of cases still to be processed has increased by 70 percent to 39,000 (2021: 22,900; 2022: 30,800).
In Bremen, an increase of 51 percent to 15,426 procedures (2021: 10,241) was registered from 2021 to 2023. Saxony follows with an increase of 39 percent from 29,915 to 41,474 open cases. Thuringia is close behind with 34 percent and 28,322 unfinished procedures. In Berlin, on the other hand, there was only an increase of 6 percent in the past two years. The capital reported 36,840 open cases at the end of 2023.
Decline only in Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is the only federal state to have recorded a decrease in the number of files since 2021. At the end of 2023, there were 20,351 unprocessed cases there, two years earlier there were 22,111. However, the reason for this was a special effect, it was said: an investigation involving thousands of fraud cases was completed there last year.
According to the Association of Judges, public prosecutors nationwide received around 5.4 million new cases last year – more than ever before. Two years earlier there were around 4.7 million new arrivals. The Federal Managing Director of the Association of Judges, Sven Rebehn, sees, among other things, an increase in cases of hate and hate speech online as one reason for the development.
There are also increased crimes under the Residence Act and more cases in the area of child pornography. “A criminal justice system that is depleted of personnel is increasingly unable to keep up with developments,” Rebehn told the dpa.