Glossary
Below are definitions for key words we use in our descriptions of court cases. We have also included simplified explanations for official terms used in the criminal legal system so that you can better understand these words when you come across them.
Acquittal
A person receives an acquittal when they are found innocent of an offense or when guilt could not be proven. They do not have to pay any costs for the proceedings or legal fees for appointed counsel.
Appeal
To appeal is to ask a higher court to review the decision of a lower court.
Appeal (Berufung)
A Berufung is a specific type of appeal that does not have an English translation. It is an appeal of a lower court decision in which the facts of the case and legal analysis of the prior judgment are reexamined.
Appeal (Revision)
This is a type of appeal without a fitting translation into English. Revision is an appeal of a decision by the regional or higher regional court in which the reviewing judge only assesses the legal analysis of the prior judgment.
Appeal (Sprungrevision)
This is another specific type of appeal for which we do not have a translation. A Sprungrevision is an appeal of a lower court judgment in which the appellate judge only examines the legal analysis of the prior judgment.
Appointed counsel
In certain criminal proceedings, the court must provide the defendant with an attorney. This is usually the case when the individual faces a prison sentence of more than one year. Appointed counsel is not free of charge if the person is found guilty.
Certificate of Good Conduct
Sentences of more than 90 days are listed in people’s Certificate of Good Conduct, which can pose a barrier to employment.
Conviction
A conviction is a sentence against a person for being guilty of an offense. They receive a punishment for the offense and pay the costs of the proceedings and legal fees.
Court support services
Court support services reviews people's personal and financial circumstances on behalf of the court or prosecutor to inform decisions on sentencing, suspension, case dismissal, and payment options.
Crime
Behavior that is punishable according to the law (e.g., in the StGB). For each crime, the law outlines what factors must be met for a person to be found guilty (e.g., whether the person had to have intent, what actions must be proven). Crimes are punishable in Germany by fines, probation, and jail. Social and political processes shape which behaviors the legislature defines as punishable.
Crime of poverty
We refer to crimes of poverty to mean that the punishment system criminalizes people for offenses connected in their circumstances to their lack of financial resources.
Criminal Punishment System / Criminal Legal System
We use the term “criminal punishment system” or “criminal legal system" to refer to the larger punitive apparatus, including the legislature, police, private security such as transit authority staff or store security, prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, probation officers, and social workers connected to the system. Since the criminal legal system is embedded in social norms, cultural values, political discourses, and economic processes, all of these factors impact who, how, and what is surveilled, policed, and punished. Therefore, the criminal legal system goes beyond the institutions and actors working directly on criminal cases, permeating many levels of society.
Culpability
Culpability as we use it is about legal responsibility for an offense.
Debtors’ prisons (Ersatzfreiheitsstrafe)
When a person does not pay their fine, they are jailed. The term for this in German is Ersatzfreiheitstrafe.
Discontinuation
A case may be discontinued, or not taken forward, for a variety of reasons and at various points in the process, including because of a lack of evidence. Cases may also be discontinued with conditions, such as the payment of restitution.
Expedited proceeding
Fast-track court procedures used to sentence lower-level cases within six weeks of the offense are expedited proceedings, or in German Beschleunigtes Verfahren.
Felony
A felony is an offense that, in a particular case, is punishable by a minimum sentence of one year or more in prison.
Fine
A fine is a monetary penalty imposed as punishment for a criminal offense. Fines paid for violations (Ordnungswidrigkeiten) have a different name in German.
Higher regional court
Appeals from the lower and regional courts are heard in the higher regional court. The court also in rare instances hears cases in the first instance.
Indictment
An indictment is a formal document from the prosecution that charges a person with an offense. The indictment is required for a case to go to trial and is read out loud by the prosecution at the beginning of a trial.
Judicial officer
Judicial officers work for the court or prosecution. Judicial officers who work for the prosecution oversee the enforcement of sentences (meaning they make sure a person completes their sentence, for example by paying all of their fines).
Jury
What we translate as jury (Schöffen) are members of the general public who hear and decide criminal proceedings along with the judge(s). They serve five year terms.
Low-level criminal cases / Mass cases
We often speak of low-level or mass criminal cases to refer to the most commonly punished offenses, including riding the train without a ticket, theft, fraud, drug cases, migration-related cases, and more. Such cases are usually sentenced to fines under German law (520,000 sentenced cases/year). Sometimes low-level criminal cases are also punished with probation or even prison, for example if the person has prior offenses.
Lower court
Court of first instance for cases with a sentence of up to four years in prison.
Mental health custody
What we translate as mental health custody (Maßregelvollzug) is the jailing of people as a result of the court’s assessment of their mental health (§ 63 StGB) or substance use (§ 64 StGB).
Misdemeanors
Misdemeanors are acts that, in a particular instance, are punishable by less than one year of prison or a fine.
Plea agreement
Under a plea agreement, the defendant, judge, and prosecution agree to the sentence in a case without a trial.
Pretrial detention
Pretrial detention is the jailing of a person pretrial, or before they are found guilty of an offense.
Preventive detention
The term “preventive detention” is a bit of a misnomer because it suggests the person is detained before an offense. Actually the term refers to the continued jailing of a person after they have completed their sentence, based on a court’s assessment of their dangerousness.
Private Plaintiff
A person deemed to be impacted by an offense (e.g., a victim) who may participate in the trial, including by submitting their own evidence, questioning witnesses, and appealing the court’s decision.
Probation
Probation refers to a sentence for a criminal offense in which a person is sentenced to a period of prison which is then “suspended”, meaning they are not jailed right away. The court then also sets a period of probation, and if the person commits another offense or violates a condition imposed by the court, they are jailed for the period of the initial prison sentence.
Probation officers
In some circumstances, people on probation are supervised by a probation officer who will check in with their compliance with probation conditions.
Punishment
A punishment is a penalty imposed for committing an offense. We also include in this term sanctions which may not be officially understood in the law as punishment but which are experienced as such by individuals who are punished, including court costs or educational measures in youth cases.
Racialized
Racialization describes a process that categorizes people into different hierarchical groups based on certain physical characteristics or perceived traits and behaviors. Tied to this process is also the construction of whiteness as the unnamed, seemingly neutral norm that does not appear as racialized.
Regional court
Court of first instance for cases with an expected sentence of over four years imprisonment, orders for incarceration in mental health custody, or preventive detention. Second instance court for appeals from the lower court.
Summary proceeding
In summary proceedings, courts sentence cases by mailing people the judgment against them.
Suspension of deportation
“Suspension of deportation” refers to a migration status under German law under which deportation is temporarily suspended. People can remain in this status for years.
Violation
Violations are non-criminal offenses punishable by fines.