It's a stressful day, the parking space is tight, and the kids are screaming in the back seat. Unpleasant anyway, but such situations can have legal repercussions in Germany. If you touch someone else's bumper while parking, you will quickly be in the criminal area. Even a small scratch can be reported if the perpetrator simply does not notice it or only leaves a note with a telephone number.
Then the state prosecution machine rolls in: police investigations, witness interviews, lawyers are called in, and in the end the public prosecutor takes over. There are no exact figures, but estimates assume that there are 250,000 or more hit-and-run accidents per year. A lot of work for the judiciary, which is already groaning under chronic overload.
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann can therefore be sure of some sympathy if he now publicly explores whether the criminal liability of "unauthorized removal from the scene of the accident" should not be limited to cases in which people have really been harmed and not just cars. Buschmann has set himself the goal of clearing out the criminal code. He wants to relieve the burden on the judiciary, in line with the FDP's maxim that the state limits itself to what is really necessary.
After all, is the sharp sword of criminal law really appropriate to secure individual car owners' claims for damages? After all, other things, no matter how valuable, are only protected against intentional damage. And wouldn't it be enough to classify hit-and-run as an administrative offense like many other traffic offenses? Why should it be illegal to race through a residential area at greatly excessive speed and endanger human lives, while you quickly have to deal with the prosecutor if you drive a small scratch into a car?
If you want to relieve the burden on the judiciary, you should accelerate digitization
But as charming as this thought may seem to some at first glance, it only carries to a limited extent. After all, it would be a fallacy to believe that the state is necessarily relieved if it downgrades a criminal offense to an administrative offense. Even in the case of administrative offenses, the police must investigate the facts. Public prosecutors are exonerated, but those affected can appeal against the fine. Conversely, one even has to fear that the crimes will increase if the hit-and-run is officially downgraded to a trivial matter, because that is exactly what administrative offenses are widely seen as.
At the end of the day, Minister Buschmann has something else to consider: it is right to put criminal laws to the test and consider whether they are really necessary. Only he should not argue with the overload of the judiciary. After all, what is right and what is wrong must not be measured in terms of efficiency. This must be decided by society – and for it by the legislator – free of fiscal constraints.
If you want to relieve the burden on the judiciary, you should accelerate digitization and improve working conditions and pay. The problem is no longer that the judiciary needs more jobs – on the contrary, it is the many vacancies that can no longer be filled because the profession is simply not attractive enough for young people.