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
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.