Robe versus Brief im Diversionsverfahren
Juvenile delinquency is omnipresent and ubiquitous. In times of resource-limited personnel policy, dwindling social control and media-effective appeals for sanctions, how should the judiciary react to typical crimes of young first offenders? Is an informal letter enough to lead the young person back to the right path? Or must the juvenile delinquent truly experience the power of the state in robes in order to persuade him or her to live in accordance with the law? This dissertation seeks to answer these questions. It offers an empirical study to determine whether a diversion variant within the informal settlements of the German JGG yields superior results in terms of special prevention and procedural economics. Based on these insights, the dissertation formulates a diversion guideline that makes the advantages of a juvenile court hearing available to diversion proceedings and, at the same time, bridges the gap between the requirements of science and the possibilities of practice.