General suspicion

The general suspicion is a suspicion that is generally harbored without concrete evidence . It is not directed against an individual, but rather generally against an indefinite number of people or specific groups of people.

As a violation of the presumption of innocence, general suspicion is not a suitable basis for police investigations. In a constitutional state , the law enforcement authorities rather need a sufficiently specific suspicion with regard to a possible act and a possible perpetrator. A criminal conviction, in turn, requires proof of individual guilt ( Nulla poena sine culpa ).

Demarcation

The general suspicion is based on supposed empirical knowledge ( prejudice ), the suspicion on probable circumstances, the suspicion on the other hand only on a (bad) opinion without determining whether this is based on (presumed) reasons.

The judicial evidence is separated from the suspicion to the extent that the judicial evidence can assume a fact to be true based on the judicial inquiries at least with a probability bordering on certainty (see also: circumstantial evidence , prima facie evidence ).

Examples

From time immemorial, artists and showmen were under general suspicion of immorality .

Members of dishonest professions , traveling people , the Yeniche or Roma are under general suspicion of theft and fraud.

Innkeepers are under the general suspicion of dishonesty when serving or billing, which is why special regulations have been created for them from ancient times.

literature

Nicola Kammann: The initial suspicion . Kovac, Hamburg 2003.
Matthias Klatt : On the legal theory of suspicion. In: Legal Theory. Journal for logic and legal methodology, legal informatics, communication research, norms and action theory, sociology and philosophy of law. Volume 37, 2006, pp. 388-392.
Lorenz Schulz: Standardized distrust. The suspicion in criminal proceedings. Klostermann, Frankfurt 2001.
Georg Steinberg : Suspicion as a quantifiable forecast? In: Juristen-Zeitung (JZ). Volume 61, No. 21, 2006, pp. 1045-1049.

Web links

Wiktionary: general suspicion - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

↑ Generalverdacht duden.de, accessed on July 14, 2020.
↑ Generalverdacht, the digital dictionary of the German language, accessed on July 14, 2020.
↑ Andreas Liebers: The tax investigation and the general suspicion. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
↑ Quoted from: Johann Christoph Adelung , "Grammatical-Critical Dictionary of High German Dialect", Vienna 1811.
↑ Martin Scheutz: The tavern in the early modern times: From the "highly forbidden gatherings." In: Ulrike Spring, Wolfgang Kos , Wolfgang Freitag (ed.): In the tavern. A history of Viennese sociability. Czernin Verlag (no year), pp. 76–83.

[1] Generalverdacht duden.de, accessed on July 14, 2020.

[2] Generalverdacht, the digital dictionary of the German language, accessed on July 14, 2020.

[3] Andreas Liebers: The tax investigation and the general suspicion. Retrieved July 14, 2020.

[4] Quoted from: Johann Christoph Adelung , "Grammatical-Critical Dictionary of High German Dialect", Vienna 1811.

[5] Martin Scheutz: The tavern in the early modern times: From the "highly forbidden gatherings." In: Ulrike Spring, Wolfgang Kos , Wolfgang Freitag (ed.): In the tavern. A history of Viennese sociability. Czernin Verlag (no year), pp. 76–83.