One in five people jailed in the EU haven't been convicted — including 12,000 in Germany alone. Studies suggest that pretrial detention is unnecessary in most cases.
In this repository, you will find the methodology, data and code behind the story that came out of this analysis.
Story by: Kira Schacht
This project is part of a collaboration within the European Data Journalism Network.
Project lead: Civio
Collaborators: Deutsche Welle, Divergente, El Confidencial, EUrologus, OBCT, VoxEurop
Read the full article on DW.com: English | German
Main story by Civio: English | Spanish
| Name | Content |
|---|---|
pretrial detention in Germany data.xlsx |
The Excel file containing the data used in this analysis |
Source: Council of Europe / University of Lausanne. Link
Annual reports on prison populations in European countries.
This analysis uses data from the 2021 annual report for European comparisons, which refers to data from 31st January 2021 unless otherwise stated. Namely, we used the following variables:
Table 3: Number of inmates and prison population rates (adjusted and non-adjusted)3A: Population of the country on 1st January 20213B: Total number of inmates (including pre-trial detainees) [Stock]
Table 8: Prison population by legal status8A: Total number of inmates not serving a final sentence
Table 16: Prison capacity and prison density16A: Total capacity of penal institutions
"Bestand der Gefangenen und Verwahrten in den deutschen Justizvollzugsanstalten nach ihrer Unterbringung auf Haftplätzen des geschlossenen und offenen Vollzugs" Link
Monthly number of inmates in German jails and prisons, 2019-2021. We used the following variables:
- capacity ("
Belegungsfähigkeit am letzten Tag des Monats 24.00 Uhr insgesamt") - stock ("
Belegung am letzten Tag des Monats 24.00 Uhr insgesamt") - of which in remand detention ("
Untersuchungshaftvollzug insgesamt brutto")
"Strafverfolgung – Fachserie 10 Reihe 3 – 2020" Link
Annual reports on activities of criminal prosecution in Germany. Included is every person charged with a crime during that year.
For this analysis, we used the following variables:
6: In der Strafverfolgungsstatistik 2020 erfasste Personen mit Untersuchungshaft6.1: Nach Grund und Dauer der Untersuchungshaft – Kurzfassung- type of crime (
Art der Straftat) - registered persons total (
Erfasste Personen insgesamt) - of which with pretrial detention (
darunter mit Untersuchungshaft) - because of flight risk (
Haftgründe (auch mehrere nebeneinander) > "flüchtig oder Fluchtgefahr (§ 112 Abs. 2 Nr.1,2 StPO)") - length of pretrial detention (
Dauer der Untersuchungshaft)
- type of crime (
6.2: Nach Art der (späteren) Entscheidung – Kurzfassung- all variables, but only for row "all crimes" (
Straftaten insgesamt)
- all variables, but only for row "all crimes" (
"Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis), 2021 Sonderauswertung Strafverfolgungsstatistik Berichtsjahr 2019" Link
Number of people in pretrial detention in 2019, brakdown by German / non-German nationality.
- Wolf, Lara: Die Fluchtprognose im U-Haft-Recht, 1. Auflage 2017, Baden-Baden. Link
- 169 cases between 2000 and 2015
- criteria: flight risk assumed by court, but defendant released for procedural reasons, e.g. missed deadlines
- results: 14 fled, 155 (92%) did not flee
- Lind, Detlef: „Der Strafverteidiger“, 2019, Seite 118 bis 132 Link
- 65 cases between 2009-2016
- criteria: flight risk assumed, but defendant released anyway
- results: 1 fled, 64 did not flee
- Christine Morgenstern, professor of criminal law and gender studies at the Free University of Berlin, who researched pretrial detention in Europe in her postdoctoral thesis.
- Thomas Röth, Lawyer in Berlin, writes about pretrial detention in Germany.
- Lara Wolf, criminal defense laywer, wrote dissertation about the use of flight risk as a cause for pretrial detention in Germany.