“Efficiency” at the expense of justice – Criticism of proposed criminal procedure reform
Courtwatch Berlin
Berlin, November 16, 2026 – A coalition of civil society organizations has issued a statement criticizing a proposal for reforming Germany’s Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO), presented to the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) by a commission today. The plans to make criminal proceedings more “efficient” threaten to further undermine the rights of people affected by mass criminalization and exacerbate the criminalization of poverty.
Since May 2025, the Disrupt Mass Criminalization coalition has been observing court proceedings every week at Berlin’s fast-track court, or Schnellgericht. Almost all cases that are tried there involve low-level shoplifting or riding public transportation without a ticket – offenses closely linked to poverty. Those standing trial are generally people living under precarious conditions. A verdict is reached in just 15 minutes.
“We are already seeing what happens when criminal proceedings are designed for maximum speed: people who are already in difficult circumstances are sentenced to fines that threaten their livelihoods within a matter of minutes, without legal representation and without a thorough examination of the evidence,”, says Katharina Lambers of Courtwatch Berlin. To coincide with the publication of the final report of the Commission on the Code of Criminal Procedure today, the group is releasing a statement outlining how fast-track proceedings and penalty orders (Strafbefehle) exacerbate poverty.
“The speed of these proceedings comes at the expense of an effective defense,” says attorney Nevin Duran, who supports people at the fast-track court. “We repeatedly see defendants’ rights to a defense being effectively hollowed out in fast-track proceedings in order to reach a verdict as quickly as possible. The result is often decisions that raise serious rule-of-law concerns.”
Furthermore, in 2024, 61 percent of all criminal cases across Germany that resulted in a fine or prison sentence were resolved through a Strafbefehl, without an oral court hearing.
Justice Collective’s Anthony Obst calls for the decriminalization of poverty-related offenses: ”A large part of the punishment system’s work is spent prosecuting people for riding public transportation without a ticket or low-value shoplifting. If efficiency were really the goal, the solution would be to repeal these criminal offenses and seriously address poverty.”