North Rhine-Westphalia: Victim Protection Officer: "Victims are not just evidence"

Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – North Rhine-Westphalia’s first victim protection officer has attested to the judiciary’s deficits in dealing with victims of crime. “Victims are not just evidence,” said Elisabeth Auchter-Mainz, who will hand over her office to the former Justice Minister of Lower Saxony, Barbara Havliza, at the turn of the month. “Those affected are not perceived as human beings enough. We have heard that again and again.”

In one case, a victim reported how badly he had been doing since the crime. But the prosecutor only heard it: “We’re not having a therapy session here.” “That’s not possible,” said Auchter-Mainz on Monday in the state chancellery in Düsseldorf.

On the other hand, it meant a lot to a victim who became dependent on nursing care as a result of a crime that the judge mentioned this in a sentence in the grounds for the judgement. “Victims want to be seen,” said Auchter-Mainz. That is why young judges and prosecutors are trained to make them understand this.

“We did pioneering work,” said Auchter-Mainz, who took up the newly created position in 2017 as a former Attorney General. “After just ten minutes in the new office, the phone rang for the first time.” At first, a lot of men would have reported. After the Corona pandemic, many victims of domestic violence turned to her office.

Auchter-Mainz rejects a draft law from the Federal Ministry of Justice, according to which court hearings should in future be documented by video recording. “This increases the hurdle for the victims of sexual violence, for example, to testify at all,” she said. The future victim protection officer Barbara Havliza sees it similarly: “From the point of view of victim protection, this is not conducive.” Havliza will take office on March 1 for a five-year term. The 64-year-old is a former judge in the State Protection Senate of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.

Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) paid tribute to Auchter-Mainz’s commitment: “She gave victims a voice” and answered over 3,000 inquiries. “Victims of crime are in an exceptional situation. Often they have not only suffered physical and material damage, but also psychological damage,” he emphasized.

In the entire legal training up to the judge office is not taught to change the perspective on the victim, said NRW Minister of Justice Benjamin Limbach (Greens). This must become a matter of course.