If a convicted person cannot or does not want to pay a fine, imprisonment is an alternative. This mechanism, which is often used by poorer people, is now being defused. A day in jail should in future correspond to two daily rates of fines.
The federal government wants to revise the system of substitute imprisonment. As the cabinet decided, in the future only one day of imprisonment should be due for an unpaid fine for every two daily rates imposed – so far the ratio has been one to one. The implementation of a replacement prison sentence “usually does not contribute to the rehabilitation of those affected,” explained the Federal Ministry of Justice as a reason.
The system of substitute imprisonment has long been controversial – critics see poor people in particular as disadvantaged. Anyone who fails to pay a fine can be imprisoned as a substitute. Fines are imposed in daily rates; A daily rate corresponds to the amount that a perpetrator has at his or her disposal in terms of net income per day. In the case of non-payment, it has so far been the case that one daily rate corresponds to one day of detention. This should now be halved.
In addition to the planned reduction in prison terms, the reform that has now been passed in the cabinet should also ensure that the aversion to substitute imprisonment through community service is strengthened. It should also be made easier for those affected to pay the fine after all – for example through support when applying for installment payments. “We are presenting a historic reform of the replacement prison sentence,” said Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann from the FDP. This had already been tried ten times in vain. “I am very pleased that the progressive coalition is finally taking this important step.”
The bill also envisages other changes in other areas of criminal law. Paragraph 46 of the Criminal Code is to be expanded. This paragraph states, among other things, that when sentencing, “the motives and goals of the perpetrator” should be taken into account, “especially racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or other inhumane ones”. This part should be supplemented with “gender-specific” and “anti-sexual orientation” motives.
Specifically, this is about violence against women by the partner or ex-partner, including so-called femicide, i.e. the killing of the woman against the background of the partner’s or ex-partner’s fantasies of possession and power. On the other hand, it is about acts in which the sexual orientation of the victim plays a decisive role.
A further section relates to the admission of offenders with addiction problems to treatment facilities. The guidelines are to be tightened here in order to ensure that only perpetrators who are able and willing to receive therapy are admitted to such clinics. “This is also intended to slow down the increase in the number of people accommodated that has been observed for many years,” said the Federal Ministry of Justice.
Finally, the draft law provides that so-called conditions and instructions in criminal proceedings should be strengthened. This involves, for example, suspending a sentence on probation with the stipulation that the perpetrator undergoes psychotherapy. As the Federal Ministry of Justice explained, current studies show that such therapies “actually have a recurrence-reducing effect”.
