Because criminal cases take years, GLP-Flach demands: crimes without victims may no longer be brought before the public prosecutor

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It can take years for a suspect to appear in court. For example, in the case of the chainsaw man from Schaffhausen. In July 2017, he attacked two people with a chainsaw. However, it took until 2021 for the federal court to rule.

In some cases, lengthy investigation procedures even lead to suspects receiving lighter sentences or even remaining unpunished. In the worst case, the investigation will last until the criminal offenses have become statute-barred. For how many cases this applies exactly, is not recorded. But according to the “Tagesanzeiger”, there are currently more than 100,000 open files in the cantons.

Staff shortages and new laws

Experts cite several reasons why procedures take so long. Several cantons complain about staff shortages at the public prosecutor’s office or the police. Others complain about the parliament in Bern, which always approves new articles of law, which in turn means more work for the cantonally organized judiciary.

“Politicians really expanded criminal liability in all directions and kept inventing new facts. That could lead to more criminal cases,’ said group leader Mitte and lawyer Philipp Matthias Bregy (45) to Blick.

But it is also the task of politicians to respond to social developments in the field of criminal law, as happened with the new sex criminal law. Parliament recently decided to reintroduce the offense of “sexual assault”.

According to Bregy, it is the task of the cantons to respond to these changes. For example, he sees no need to restrict the rights of the suspect because the public prosecutor’s office is currently complaining about a lot of work.

Easier to punish crimes without victims

The Green-liberal Beat Flach (58) also thinks that it is the task of the cantons to expand jobs if they have a large mountain of work to do.

On the other hand, he also has an idea to relieve the judiciary: “I would appreciate it if a prosecutor did not always have to bend over for victimless crimes.” This is the case, for example, if someone is fined for taking the bus several times without a ticket.

State lawyer and FDP member Andrea Caroni (43) has already dealt with cases in which the sentence was reduced because the investigations had taken so long: “In at least one case the police were investigating for a very long time,” says Blick. Years of delay are inherently problematic: “Slow justice is unfair justice,” says Caroni.

Basel should employ retirees

Another reason why the files are piling up is the increasing complexity of the cases. For example, the annual report of the public prosecutor’s office in Schaffhausen states that there was an “unprecedented accumulation of large and very costly criminal cases in the field of violent and property crime” last year – the chainsaw case is cited as an example. Digitization also sometimes presents law enforcement agencies with an increasing evaluation effort.

Last but not least, the shortage of skilled workers is causing problems for prosecutors. When asked, the public prosecutor’s office of the canton of St. Gallen indicated that several functions in the process management and administration are missing. But it is politics that must approve such positions. In Basel-Stadt, the oversight committee of the prosecutor’s office is already recommending the temporary employment of retired prosecutors to handle pending cases.

Source:Blick