- The Ministry is reviewing reports of expiration.
The North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Justice is having checks conducted to determine if there has been widespread expiration of investigation proceedings due to staff shortages in the state's public prosecutor's offices. "We're taking another look at this," a spokesperson for the NRW Ministry of Justice told dpa. The public prosecutor's offices have been asked for relevant information. The "Westfalen-Blatt" had previously reported that, for example, proceedings at the Public Prosecutor's Office in Bielefeld were expiring unprocessed. This involves traffic offenses such as minor speeding violations where no driving ban is threatened.
The German Justice Union does not rule out that thousands of proceedings could be affected statewide. "We have received corresponding feedback from colleagues in the public prosecutor's offices," said union chairman Klaus Hammes. "In Cologne, the expiration could only be prevented in many cases by ordering 'voluntary' overtime work."
Initially, the NRW Ministry of Justice stated that there were no numbers to prove widespread expiration due to staff shortages. "The impression is that the numbers are being kept under wraps by the department heads and not reported up the chain," said Hammes.
The administrative offenses and penalty proceedings are the responsibility of the business unit employees. At the beginning of the year, 800 were missing from the public prosecutor's offices and courts. "Due to the overload, many proceedings cannot be completed. This is a red thread running through the entire justice system," said Hammes. Many of the vacant positions cannot be filled due to a lack of applicants.
Speeding Amnesty Due to Overload?
Some speeders may therefore go unpunished for simple speeding offenses if they file an objection to their fine notice. "After an objection, the public prosecutor's office must apply for a date at the local court within six months. If this is not successful, the matter expires," says Christian Demuth, a specialist lawyer for traffic law in Düsseldorf. "It happens more frequently than in the past that absolute expiration occurs in traffic offenses. However, this is not the rule. I can also imagine that it is due to staff shortages. Penalty proceedings are mass proceedings. The more people file objections, the more difficult it becomes for the justice system to cope with the workload." However, traffic offenders cannot rely on this.
The Association of Judges and Public Prosecutors in NRW neither confirms nor denies widespread expiration: "That may be the case, but we don't know. We don't have any numbers on it," said the association's state manager, Gerd Hamme. However, it is a fact that the workload quota for the middle tier has recently been calculated at 118.4 percent, meaning that the workload for individual employees is very high.
The German Justice Union strongly suggests that thousands of investigation proceedings might be affected by widespread expiration due to staff shortages across the state, as many public prosecutor's offices have resorted to ordering 'voluntary' overtime work to prevent expirations in certain areas, such as Cologne. This escalating issue of unprocessed proceedings raises concerns about the equitable delivery of justice, as 'Justice' is inherently reliant on the thorough and timely handling of cases.
