Bücher der Reihe Schriften zum Strafrecht

»Sentencing for Serious Crime. A Comparative Study of Theory and Practice of Sentencing«: This study is devoted to addressing the issue of sentencing decisions in the practice after conducting an empirical and normative comparative study of sentencing practice. Additionally, this study also illustrates the sentencing practice of serious crimes and the impact of current criminal policies on sentencing practice. Finally, this study illustrates the implications of findings for the sentencing decisions and criminal policy in the sentencing practice.

»Criminal Seizure of a Vehicle for Unlawful Use«: The thesis examines the possibilities of German criminal law to confiscate vehicles from offenders. Among other things, it discusses why confiscation is possible in the case of illegal motor racing, but not in the case of other offences, such as drunk driving. It then considers the extent to which the rules on vehicle confiscation need to be revised. The thesis concludes with a concrete recommendation for the legislator.

»Corruption without Remorse? Active Repentance in Commercial Criminal Law with Special Consideration of the Offenses of Corruption §§ 299, 299a, and 299b StGB«: Neither Section 299 nor Sections 299a and 299b of the Criminal Code contain any regulation on active repentance. This is not unusual, since regulations of active repentance - according to the general opinion - do not follow any systematic. This statement is put to the test by Simone Breit with regard to the offenses of economic criminal law. The connecting factors and criteria identified in the course of the study are then applied to corruption offenses. The work ends with a proposal for a specific regulation on active repentance in the corruption offenses.

In der deutschsprachigen Diskussion über die Legitimation von Strafe hat sich in den letzten Jahren eine bemerkenswerte Trendwende vollzogen. Die Auffassung, daß auch die avancierteste der Präventionstheorien, die Lehre von der positiven Generalprävention, die in sie gesetzten Erwartungen nicht habe erfüllen können, gewinnt an Boden. Konsequenterweise wendet sich das wissenschaftliche Interesse wieder verstärkt den Vergeltungslehren zu. Michael Pawlik weist nach, daß sowohl die Abkehr von den präventiven als auch die erneute Hinwendung zu den retributiven Straftheorien berechtigt sind. Auf der Basis einer detaillierten Kritik an den bisherigen Auffassungen entwickelt er sodann ein neuartiges, freiheitstheoretisch abgesichertes Verständnis der Vergeltungstheorie.Diese Konzeption beruht auf einer Unterscheidung verschiedener Unrechtsformen, die als das "Unrecht der Person", das "Unrecht des Subjekts" und das "Unrecht des Bürgers" bezeichnet werden. Das spezifisch strafrechtliche Unrecht ist zu verstehen als ein Unrecht des Bürgers. Der Täter verletzt danach nicht allein seine Pflicht gegenüber seinem konkreten Opfer, sondern zugleich auch seine Verpflichtung zur Loyalität gegenüber dem gemeinsamen bürgerschaftlichen Projekt eines "Friedens durch Recht". Auf diese Loyalitätsverweigerung antwortet die Strafe. Sie hält den Täter an seiner Mitverantwortung für das Allgemeine fest und ehrt ihn auf diese Weise "als Vernünftiges" (Hegel).

»The Problem of Late Term Abortion. Legal, Medical, and Criminological Aspects and Legal Approaches in a Comparative Legal Perspective«: The work deals with the problem of late-term abortion and its handling under criminal law in Germany from an interdisciplinary perspective, in which criminological, medical, constitutional and criminal law dogmatic aspects are linked. The author presents her empirical analysis on feticide and late termination of pregnancy and makes a proposal for a new legal regulation.

»How to apply the Rules of Probation in Case the Convict is incapable to pay the Fine and faces a substitute Imprisonment (Ersatzfreiheitsstrafe)«: The convict, who faces a substitute imprisonment, is in a similar situation as a person, who received an ordinary custodial sentence. Therefor the question whether or not the rules of probation should apply to the substitute imprisonment in § 43 StGB is closely linked with the legal nature of this penalty. By the means of the wording in § 43 StGB, the system of the rules, the history and the purpose of § 43 StGB the author concludes, that the substitute imprisonment is an ordinary custodial sentence and therefore the rules of probation should apply to this penalty as well.

Was unterscheidet dem Grunde nach einen Mord von einem Totschlag? Sollten hierbei unrechts- und/oder schuldmindernde Gesichtspunkte relevant werden können, die wegen fehlender Voraussetzungen nicht als Rechtfertigungs-, Entschuldigungs- oder Schuldausschließungsgrund für den Täter streiten können? Ist in der Rechtspraxis jene Berücksichtigung möglicherweise bereits Usus?Diesen Kernfragen widmet sich die vorliegende Arbeit. Insgesamt liegt ihr Ausgang darin, dass Fragen im Bereich des Mordtatbestands unter Rückbesinnung auf sein Wesen zu beantworten sein sollen und Lösungsversuche nur hierin ihre rechtsdogmatisch überzeugende Legitimation finden können. Im Ergebnis liefert die Untersuchung einen Lösungsansatz, der eine einheitliche Behandlung der betrachteten tätergünstigen Umstände in dem Sinne ermöglicht, dass bei einem Zusammentreffen mit einem Mordmerkmal dessen Unrechts- und/oder Schuldgehalt zugunsten einer Totschlagsstrafbarkeit als kompensiert gelten kann.

»The Criminal Liability of the Online Gambling Provider and the Payment Service Provider Involved In Accordance with §§ 284 ff. of the German Criminal Code (StGB). A Treatment of the Problems under European and Constitutional Law of the Constituent Element of the Offence >Without Official Authorisation

»Legal Certainty of the Sanction norms of the German Law on Medicinal Products«: This thesis examines whether the penal provisions (including fines) of the German Law on Medicinal Products satisfy the principle of legal certainty set out in Article 103(2) of the German Constitution. For this purpose, it analyses the legal term »medicinal product« in the first and the reference-constructions of the sanction norms of the Law on Medicinal Products in the second chapter to then evaluate to what extent the conduct subject to punishment is recognizable and thus foreseeable for the norm addressee.

In German Criminal law one of the major principle is that nobody can be convicted without an allegation of guilt. This basic principle is one of the irreversible principles of the Constitution based on dignity of man. Therefore, German Criminal law is also known as »law of guilt«. Despite this superior ranking, the concept of guilt stays unsatisfactorily vague. What can be called the essence of being guilty so that man's responsibility can be treated as a fact? In a first part »Schuld und Strafmaß« is trying to give answers.The second part is dedicated to define a legal entity, which will allow combining both classic doctrines of justification and the assessment of the penalties in form of a common denominator. The theory of »differential sentencing« (»differentielle Strafzumessung«) promises to be this aimed concept by strictly implementing the constitutional rule of equality.

»Fake News as a Challenge for German Criminal Law«: With the freedoms of the Internet also came its darker side: For a long time now, fake news have not only manipulated election campaigns, but have also been a constant companion in the fight against pandemics, in diplomatic relations or, for example, in the capital market. By means of a detailed study, the multifaceted actual specifics of the phenomenon are shown, the insufficient defensibility of German criminal law is revealed, and specific drafts of legal reforms are presented.

»Match Fixing through Bribery in Sport. An Investigation into Sports Betting Fraud and the Manipulation of Professional Sports Competitions According to §§ 265c - 265e StGB (German Criminal Code)«: Due to the increasing commercialization and the economically attractive profit opportunities, sporting competitions are threatened by match fixing. The thesis examines the criminal offenses introduced by the 51st StrÄndG in 2017 (§§ 265c and 265d StGB). This investigation comes to the conclusion that, due to the restrictive interpretations for the indefinite features, the areas of application of both facts should be narrower in practice than provided by the legislature.

»Driving a Vehicle in Criminal Law. A New Dogmatic Approach Examining the Criminal Responsibility of Users of Automated Vehicles«: The thesis systematically examines the act of driving a vehicle by taking highly and fully automated driver assistance systems into account. In addition to an analytical perspective on the task of driving a vehicle, the casuistic jurisprudence is critically evaluated. In conclusion, a definition is proposed that defuses the dogmatic problems that have arisen. Besides, fundamental thoughts regarding the dogmatics of the abstract strict liability tort are expressed.

»Penalized Innovation? Criminal Liability for the Placing on the Market of Autonomous Cyber-Physical Systems«: Autonomous cyber-physical systems will foreseeably find their way into the reality of our lives. Will criminal law have to react when innovative, autonomous technologies cause bodily injury or homicide? To answer this question, Maximilian Münster examines the standards of criminal product liability that apply in Germany and then evaluates their application to the marketing of autonomous cyber-physical systems.

»The Defendant's Access to a Plea Bargain in Criminal Proceedings. Factual Requirements and Legal Consequences of Section 257c (1) Sentence 1 of the German Code of Criminal Procedure and its Compatibility with the General Principle of Equality«: By introducing Section 257c of the German Code of Criminal Procedure, the legislature promised to create legal certainty and transparency. Nevertheless, it left the decision to enter into a plea bargain in "suitable cases" to judicial discretion. The author examines the applicable requirements, shows in which cases the defendant must be offered a plea bargain, and explains why the current legal situation results in unconstitutional unequal treatment of defendants.

»Criminal Liability for Political Fake News«: Politically instrumentalized misinformation (Fake News) affects the public debate and contributes to the fact that in today's Information Society more and more citizens turn away from rational facts in order to base their individual political opinion solely on subjective emotions. This development is devastating for a functioning democracy. Therefore, the multidisciplinary thesis discusses the legitimacy of various anti-misinformation strategies in substantive law.

»Rules of Use and Prohibitions of Use in Criminal Procedural Law«: The paper examines the difference between the regulations on use regulated in the Code of Criminal Procedure and the mostly non-codified prohibitions on exploitation. It undertakes de lege ferenda to define the concepts of exploitation and use, as well as to create constitutionally required statutory regulations for powers of exploitation. At the same time, the existing utilisation regulations are being reviewed for their constitutionality within the framework of a further legislative proposal.

»Criminal Liability of Card- and Account-Sharing. Regarding the Criminal Coverage of the Objectively Regular Usage of Login-Credential-Shielded Contents by Unauthorized Third Persons«: The thesis deals with the criminal liability concerning the sharing of login credentials by subscribers with unauthorized third persons and the utilization of the credentials by these third persons. It comes to the unsatisfying result that the examined phenomenons cannot be covered adequatelly by the current criminal provisions. As a solution, the dissertation i.a. suggests a new § 265a para. 4 StGB, which would criminalize the circulation of login credentials as a preparational offense.

»Questions of Imputation in the offense of Fraud«: The thesis examines classic and modern problems of the offense of fraud under the lense of methods of imputation provided by the General Part of the Criminal Code. Among other topics, it deals with the imputation of knowledge within organizations (e.g. corporations) and the question of accountability in complex constellations with three or more parties involved in a fraudulent action.

»The Change of Jurisdiction According to § 126 Section 2 Sentence 1 Criminal Procedure Code«According to German case law, a pre-trial detention order after indictment cannot be challenged by appeal due to § 126 II 1 StPO. Alessa Trunk is the first to take an academic look at this practice, taking into account the principle of speeding up proceedings in detention cases and the right to effective legal protection. In this respect, considerable legal deficits are identified. Alessa Trunk develops a practice in conformity with the Constitution and the Convention and a legislative proposal.