TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2012//
TI  - An assessment of existing disadvantages faced by young criminal offenders in light of calls to strengthen German juvenile criminal law
JO  - Monatssc. Kriminol. Strafrechtsreform
A1  - Kemme, Stefanie
A1  - Stoll, Katharina
SP  - 32
EP  - 51
VL  - 95
IS  - 1
N2  - Paragraph 18 I 3 JGG (German Youth Courts Law) stipulates that the range of punishment found in the general criminal law does not apply to youth sentences. Therefore, some researchers argue that disadvantages faced by young criminal offenders in comparison to adult offenders are acceptable. However, current criminal offense doctrine prohibits a juvenile sentence from exceeding the given maximum penalty provided for adult offenders in the general criminal law. In addition to these different theoretical positions, inconsistent empirical evidence on the actual disadvantages faced by young criminal offenders also exists. This gives reason to analyze official criminal justice statistics of the past 13 years in an attempt to outline recent developments in the area. The results indicate that, more than ever, juvenile offenders suffer from existing disadvantages. They more often receive custodial sentences; they also receive longer prison sentences, not only for minor offenses but increasingly also for major offenses. In referring to these results, the role of the principle of education in German juvenile law is discussed, as too are calls for a strengthening of the juvenile criminal law system. (English)    Keywords: Juvenile justice; Juvenile delinquency<p />
LA  - de
SN  - 0026-9301
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -