The German Judges’ Association (DRB) has issued an alarm regarding the increase in politically motivated crime, urgently demanding a rapid boost to the judiciary.
According to Sven Rebehn, the national executive director of the DRB, state prosecutor’s offices are increasingly overwhelmed by staff shortages, struggling to keep pace with the development of cases. He noted that the number of unresolved cases among procurators in the federal average has climbed by approximately 50 percent since 2020. In many authorities, three investigators must now handle the workload of four. Furthermore, the tendency is growing for minor cases to be prematurely dropped “because there is simply no other way given the time constraints.”
Rebehn said that a shortage of 2,000 legal enforcement officers nationwide is preventing the rapid processing of cases and impeding the system’s ability to recover. He stressed that renewed focus on internal security must become a top priority in the federal states. The judiciary expects that the phase of merely announcing policy is over, and that the State Justice Pact should be implemented before the summer recess.
Ahead of the Justice Minister Conference scheduled for Thursday in Hamburg, Rebehn intensified the pressure, stating that politicians must finally commit to the State Justice Pact. Although the conference has raised concerns about staffing gaps and called for a new pact for the past year, the promised investment offensive from the federal states, in cooperation with the federal government, is still pending.
Data from the Federal Ministry of the Interior indicates that last year registered a higher volume of politically motivated crimes than ever before. Crime committed with political intent reached a new high, increasing by about two percent to 85,800 offenses. Furthermore, politically motivated acts of violence rose by 1.2 percent, totaling 4,200 incidents.
