Jury
A lay judge is generally a court in which lay judges participate. However, not every dish in which lay judges participate is also called that.
Germany
In Germany, the lay judge's court is a ruling body of the local court in criminal proceedings with a criminal authority of up to four years imprisonment .
Responsibilities
According to its substantive competence, the lay judge's court is located between the criminal judge at the local court and the criminal chamber at the regional court . An essential criterion of jurisdiction is the legal consequence expectation, ie on the individual case expected punishment within the legally prescribed penalty frame or expected measures of correction and prevention.
It is called to judge all offenses for which the expected punishment is imprisonment of two to four years and no placement in a psychiatric hospital or in preventive detention is to be expected ( § 24 GVG). If the expected punishment is lower, the criminal judge is responsible ( § 28 , § 25 GVG). In addition, the lay judge's court is responsible for hearing crimes (ie a regular minimum sentence of one year) if the expected sentence does not exceed four years. By accepting a less serious case, the statutory minimum sentence can be less than one year, which is not taken into account for the factual jurisdiction, as this only relates to the term crime ( Section 12 (3) StGB).
The jury court has no jurisdiction if the prosecutor's office because of the special importance of the case indictment charges before the Regional Court or the first -instance jurisdiction with the District Court or Court of Appeal is, for example, in national security matters .
In juvenile criminal matters or youth protection matters, the lay judge's court acts as a youth lay judge's court if a youth penalty is expected to be imposed ( Section 40 JGG ).
occupation
The lay judge's court is usually made up of two lay judges and a professional judge . If the matter to be negotiated is particularly extensive, another professional judge can be called in. This jury is then called the extended jury . The prerequisites and jurisdiction rules are the same as for the actual lay jury.
Austria
The lay judge's court in Austria is a senate that judges certain criminal cases at the regional courts .
In principle, the lay judge's court consists of a professional judge and two lay judges (lay judges) and decides in the first instance on individual offenses listed in the Code of Criminal Procedure as well as those that are threatened with more than five years imprisonment and are not assigned to the jury ( Section 32 (3 ) StPO ) . An exception to this was introduced with the change in the law of criminal procedure on January 1, 2015: In certain cases, a “large” lay judges' court, which consists of two professional judges and two lay judges, has to decide in accordance with Section 32 (1a) StPO. These offenses - which are listed exhaustively in paragraph 1a of Section 32 of the Code of Criminal Procedure - that fall within the jurisdiction of the “major” jury courts include manslaughter , serious robbery , arson and rape . The second professional judge in lay judge proceedings was only abolished on January 1, 2008. In juvenile criminal cases, one of the lay judges must be or have been active as a teacher, educator, in public or private youth welfare or in youth care, and at least one must be of the same gender as the accused (Section 28 JGG) .
In both variants, the judgment is based on the majority of votes of all judges, with the votes of the professional judges counting as much as those of the lay judges. In a simple lay judge procedure (one professional judge, two lay judges), however, the question of guilt cannot be answered in the affirmative against the voice of the professional judge ( Section 41 StPO).
Remarks
- ↑ The maximum statutory penalty can, however, be more than four years.
Individual evidence
- ↑ From 1.1.2015: Changes in the law of criminal procedure . Communication from the Austrian Bar Association of December 12, 2014.
