“Youth is intoxication without wine” (Goethe)
This recognition has to be considered by the juvenile courts as well as legislators with the creation of juvenile justice (JGG) installed special features throughout the proceedings against adult criminal law:
The principle of any juvenile justice proceedings is governed by § 2 (2) JGG, according to which the application of juvenile justice is primarily intended to counteract the recriminations of a juvenile or adolescent, and this objective of the juvenile prosecution procedure is thus geared to the concept of upbringing, in addition to observing parental rights of education. It can therefore be said that adult criminal law is about atonement and retribution, while in juvenile justice it is about the educational mandate of the court.
This means that standard measures such as the provisional arrest § 127 StPO or the order of (investigative) §§ 112 StPO may not be ordered by adolescents or adolescents without review and justification of the ultima ratio principle, § 72 JGG:
“For the remand order may only be imposed and enforced if its purpose cannot be achieved by a provisional order of education or other measures. When examining proportionality, the special burdens of juvenile enforcement must also be taken into account. If remand detention is imposed, the arrest warrant shall state the reasons why other measures, in particular temporary restraint in a youth welfare home, are insufficient and that pre-trial detention is not disproportionate.
According to § 1 (2) JGG is “teenager, who is fourteen, but not yet eighteen and adolescent, who is eighteen, but not yet twenty-one years old. Always be aware of the age of the person at the time of the crime. Anyone under the age of 14 is not a criminal. Anyone older than 21 is an adult. Therefore will be treated as an adult.”
As adolescent (18-21 years of age) it depends on whether the court applies with § 105 JGG youth criminal law or adult criminal law, to which before the juvenile court help and the other involved are consulted. Prerequisite for the application of juvenile justice is therefore either the existence of maturity delays of the person concerned or a youth-typical misconduct.
The BGH uses the following scale for the delimitation:
“The application of juvenile justice to an adolescent depends not only on whether the adolescent has remained behind in his development or whether he has developed according to age, but on whether he is still in development or not that is, whether developmental forces are still effective on a larger scale “
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