Courtroom is becoming more and more a crime scene
A Judge Bitten During Trial, Axe Attack Against a Bailiff: The Countries Register an Increase in Attacks and Verbal Attacks against Judicial Personnel. Various Measures are being taken to protect them.
A Justice Watchman is bitten by a defendant. A suspect spat on the public prosecutor during a casual encounter in a parking lot. During a trial, a man jumped onto the judge's bench and injured the jurist through blows and a bite in the hand. People on the street surrounded a car in which members of the Criminal Chamber were sitting and shouted angrily at the door. A bailiff was attacked with an axe. Such attacks are no longer isolated incidents, as a survey at the Justice Department showed.
According to a report in the "German Judges' Journal," court participants and spectators react emotionally. Statistics on insults, threats, or physical attacks against employees and employees of the Justice System are not available in all federal states. However, the impression is the same everywhere: threatening situations and critical situations in courts have at least subjectively increased. "The deterioration is increasing, conflict resolution skills are dwindling," says Sven Rebehn, Federal Business Manager of the German Judges' Association.
The numbers from Bavaria paint a clear picture: According to the Justice Ministry, there were 541 reported cases at courts, prosecutors, justice executives, and bailiffs from July 2022 to June 2023. This is a significant increase compared to the year 2020 with 304 cases, a spokesperson said.
Increase in several federal states
The neighboring Baden-Württemberg reported, according to the "German Judges' Journal," 126 insults, threats, or attacks against judicial representatives in 2023. In the first five months of this year, there were 56. The Justice Ministry in Stuttgart reported a total of 177 security-relevant incidents that were recorded through an internal reporting system. However, not all incidents were against judicial personnel.
In Berlin, according to the Senate Justice Administration, there has been a standardized reporting system since 2019. "Verbal disputes with the public, which sometimes run aggressively, have unfortunately become part of the judicial daily routine, so that these are not reported by the judges and judges in the rule," a spokeswoman said. Bailiffs are particularly affected by increasingly aggressive visitors during access control. For Lower Saxony, the figures in the Richterbund-published magazine show: There were 81 cases in the previous year, and in the first quarter of 2024, there were 35.
The employees reported an increasing disrespectfulness, according to the Judges' Association. "Frequently, they are people from the Reichsbürger scene, aggressive opponents, or Corona deniers who behave threateningly in courts and significantly hinder the work of the Justice System," said Rebehn. "It is alarming when judges and judges receive threats of violence in social media because of their judgments, as a Hamburg criminal judge recently experienced."
Bailiffs carry special risk
The risk for bailiffs is particularly high. "The number of threats and attacks against bailiffs has increased significantly in recent years," says the Federal Ministry of Justice. "In 2021, there were 1,556 reported cases, an increase of 22% compared to the previous year." The ministry also reported that in some cases, the attacks were not only directed against the bailiffs themselves but also against their families.
The Federal Ministry of Justice has taken measures to protect bailiffs, such as providing them with body cameras and increasing their presence in groups during executions. The ministry also encourages the use of protective equipment and the reporting of threats and attacks. However, the increase in attacks on judicial personnel is a cause for concern, and more needs to be done to ensure their safety.
Especially frequently targeted nationwide are Court Bailiffs and Court Bailiffs, as stated by the Justice Authorities. They encounter people often in extreme situations such as evictions - and are exposed to physical violence in the process. However, in 99 percent of cases, as estimated by Berlin Court Bailiff Martin Graetz, his colleagues seek out debtors without police escort. "A certain threat situation belongs more or less to the business," reports the Chairman of the Obergerichtsvollzieher in the Kammergerichtsbezirk.
Approximately 270 Court Bailiffs are on duty in the capital, according to Graetz's estimates. He assumes that every second one has experienced a threatening situation. He himself was injured by a debtor with an axe about 13 years ago. "I handle situations differently since then and wear, for example, a bulletproof vest," reports the 52-year-old. After psychological support, he was able to continue his work.
"We are observing an increase in known cases," says Detlef Huermann from the Social Work of the German Court Bailiffs Association. Many incidents, however, are not reported - and the colleagues would usually want to resume duty immediately. Recently, a Court Bailiff was met with a loaded rifle at the door. "He reported it - and wanted to carry on right away," so Huermann. A few days later, however, he noticed that he still needed to process the experience.
Security Checks and Bulletproof Vests
The justice system is trying to protect its employees in various ways. Nationwide, there are security checks at courthouse entrances, similar to those at airports. Many courtrooms have been modernized and secured, mail and luggage are inspected. The justice system can also issue house bans for dangerous individuals. In Saxony-Anhalt, a prosecutor's office has done this eight times since 2023, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the first of 750 bulletproof vests for Court Bailiffs were handed over in December in Cologne. The association there had been advocating for this for years. In Berlin, such bulletproof vests are considered "desirable," as Court Bailiff Graetz says. In Rhineland-Palatinate, there is a security training for Court Bailiffs, which was also demonstrated during the nationwide respect actions for public service employees in May last year.
International efforts are necessary to address the global increase in criminality targeting judicial personnel. The European Union, for instance, could implement stricter penalties for attacks against judges and bailiffs across its member states. Additionally, the United Nations could publicly denounce these attacks as a threat to international justice and law enforcement.
