Prison Law (Germany)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Prison law is the law that regulates the execution of sentences , i.e. the actual execution of the prison sentence in a correctional facility (JVA). Since the prison administration is part of the state administration, the prison law is a special administrative law . The law of the execution of sentences differs from the law of the execution of sentences in that the latter regulates the "whether" and the former the "how" of the execution of the prison sentence.

The juridification of prisons and thus also of the penal system is a relatively new phenomenon. For a long time prisoners had practically no rights. In common law , this was justified plainly by stating that prisoners were slaves of the state . In Germany, the same situation was justified with the doctrine of the “ special relationship of violence ”. This said that only regular citizens can claim rights vis-à-vis the state (general relationship of violence), but not persons who are to a certain extent inside the state ( civil servants , soldiers, prisoners, etc.). This doctrine was obviously inconsistent with the Basic Law(1949), which has no special status for the named persons. Nevertheless, it took almost 20 years before the legislature, under pressure from a decision by the Federal Constitutional Court , took action and passed the penal law. According to a general objective ( rehabilitation ), it contains both provisions on the rights and obligations of prisoners and provisions on the organization of the prison. Corresponding legalization of the juvenile prison system and pre- trial detention continued in Germany for another 30 years. The Federal Constitutional Court set the legislature a deadline for a legal regulation of the youth penal system until the end of 2007. Since the penal legislation has become a matter for the federal states as a result of the federalism reform, state laws were passed in the following years. As long as this had not yet happened, the previous (federal) penal law remained in force.

The legalization of the prison system on an international level has not yet progressed very far. Individual legally binding provisions, such as the prohibition of torture , can be found in international conventions . But it has not always been transposed into national law. The international enforcement mechanisms are also weak; they usually only consist of reporting obligations by the governments concerned and “convictions” by international bodies without consequences. It is questionable whether the International Criminal Court , created in 2003, can remedy this, as it is basically only subsidiary, i.e. H. is responsible if the national authorities do not investigate the matter themselves. In addition to these legally binding provisions, there are a number of international minimum standards with recommendations for the treatment of prisoners. The first and most famous document of this kind are the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Offenders (minimum standards for the treatment of offenders) of the United Nations (1955). A revised European version of the Standard Minimal Rules has been published by the Council of Europe under the name European Prison Rules (in German: European Prison Rules ) (1988, most recently completely revised in January 2006). Although these provisions are only recommendations and have no legal character, they are becoming increasingly practical. Last but not least, this effectiveness is based on the work of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) of the Council of Europe.

literature

  • Penal Reform International. Making Standards Work. An International Handbook on Good Prison Practice. The Hague 1995.
  • Johannes Feest (Hrsg.): Commentary on the Prison Act (AK-StVollzG). 6th edition. Luchterhand, Neuwied 2012, ISBN 978-3-472-06499-2 .
  • Schwind, Böhm, Jehle: Prison Act. Federal and State . 6th amend. and edit again Edition. De Gruyter, Berlin, 2013, ISBN 978-3-89949-625-3 .
  • Volckart, Pollähne, Woynar: Defense in Enforcement and Enforcement. CF Müller, 4th edition 2008, ISBN 978-3-8114-3615-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BVerfGE 33, 1 , decision of the Second Senate of March 14, 1972, Az. 2 BvR 41/71.
  2. ^ Federal Constitutional Court, judgment of the Second Senate of May 31, 2006, Az. 2 BvR 1673, 2402/04 - , BVerfGE 116, 69 .