This research project is an expert's report on criminal appeals on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Justice. It aims to show the practice and efficiency of the German system in comparison to other legal systems throughout the world. The political background are numerous reform projects by the Bundesrat, the House of the Federal States, and the Bundestag, the House of Parliament, as well as by the Ministry itself to speed up the administration of criminal justice, rendering criminal appeals more efficient and rational. On the basis of statistical analysis the study looks to the frequencies of criminal appeals, the success quota of appellants and, in terms of qualitative research, the opinion of practitioners of criminal courts. The successful appeals were taken into a closer examination, trying to evaluate and standardize the source of errors on the first level. The international comparison works out if the German standard has to be judged as "luxurious" or "under-average". The following countries are included in the comparative study: England and Wales, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Sweden, the USA, and Spain. The empirical study of the German system was carried out by an representative examination of 750 criminal records from the Federal State Baden-Wurttemberg dating of 1995. Besides the primary analysis a secondary analysis of already existing data sets of our Institute is pursued.

In February 2000 the study was published in two volumes (Monika Becker, Jörg Kinzig (Hrsg.): Rechtsmittel im Strafrecht. Eine international vergleichende Untersuchung zur Rechtswirklichkeit und Effizienz von Rechtsmitteln. Freiburg/Br. 2000, 2 Teilbände, 680 + 240 Seiten, ISBN 3-86113-120-X, DM 90,00, SFR 75,00, ÖS 630,00).

Funding:

The project was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Justice.