Case Study on Crimes

1. Case Study on Crimes Patrick Stettner

2. Relatevariouscrimestatistics: Question 2: Describe an issue in your country that people disagree on with respect to legality (not prostitution) explaining the arguments from both sides.

3. Relate various crime statistics: Arguments:

4. Relate various crime statistics: Question 5: Provide a summary of your court system. Consider both a criminal and civil case. Include information on a landmark case and describe the process of judicial review or the role of the supreme/ higher court using a real and recent example.

5. Court System of Germany • The German court system can be divided in 4 main groups. These are: • Local courts • Regional courts • Higher regional court • Federal court of justice • The courts above are ordered from the weakest to the strongest or from the one with the lowest power to the one with the most power. The local courts do only handle weak crimes between civil cases or crime cases. Civil cases according to http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-law-basics/the-differences-between-a-criminal-case-and-a-civil-case.html “are typically disputes between individuals regarding the legal duties and responsibilities they owe one another.” That means civil cases are legality incidents between two or more people; for example if one steels another something. Crime cases according to http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-law-basics/the-differences-between-a-criminal-case-and-a-civil-case.html “are generally offenses against the state, and are accordingly prosecuted by the state.” From the steeling point of you, to stay at the same point, would be a robbery of a bank because this is owned by the state and not by a person that is basically the money of the state so it is their responsibility and they are going to prosecute that. Also, the local court is only allowed to do trials, no appeals. An appeal is when there was a judgment in a case and it is done, if the opposite part is not satisfied with that judgment they can within one week try to revise or try to appeal to the court but then they have to go to the next and higher state the regional courts. Therefore, the local courts are responsible for civil and crime cases lower types like the steeling of little things under 50€ (app. 500 yuan) and for crime cases like steeling something in a bakery or supermarket. This is mostly related to one village or city. Relate various crime statistics: The German Court System

6. The regional courts, which are responsible for towns and districts of a certain area, are investigating in ‘higher crimes’ towards people and the state. Here the regional court is able to appeal and can make trials. This court – step is, for instance, responsible for crimes like the robbery of a jeweler, where the money belongs to a person, indeed, but the store is supported by the state, when they provide the jeweler with jewelry or support him with money. In this crime case the regional court is responsible. A civil case would be the planned robbery of jewelry of a person or the steeling of a car, because these are crimes with higher values. That means, the higher the value the higher the court – step. The next step is the higher regional court, which is again responsible for both civil and crime cases. Also here, trials and appeals are applied. This court step is responsible for crimes and a ‘state’ of Germany. Germany is divided in 16 so called ‘Bundesländer’ which are comparable to the states in America, only a bit smaller. An example in a civil case of this court step would be kidnapping and extortion of a member of a family. Here is only the threatened but that is such a high crime that the life of a person is in danger so this court step has to be alarmed. An example for a crime case would be the murdering of a person. Indeed, this is an offense towards a family but also a provocation towards the state and is considered to be an offense against everyone in society. So, in these cases the higher regional court is responsible. Relate various crime statistics: The German Court System

7. Relate various crime statistics: The last and most powerful step in the German Court System is the Federal Court of Justice. It consists of eight judges and investigates in cases of really high difficulty or high priority. Also only this court investigates in landmark cases due to only this court is allowed from the constitution to appeal on point of law. And normally only huge cases, which are both civil and crime, will be brought to the Federal Court of Justice. For example, if there is a murder case in the Bundeswehr (German Army) or the kidnapping of an important person from the government. But usually this court does only have to do cases in politics like landmark cases for example. Here is meant by cases, which are not clear to interpret of the law. One example of that is from the year 1958 that by vehemently hurting of the personal rights of a person the entitlement to compensation is. This case was not clear described in the law but the Federal Court of Justice decided with immediate effect that this is to respect. The German Court System

8. Relate various crime statistics: Question 3: Chart a crime explaining its affect on and the role of these groups (criminal, victim, society, police, courts, corrections). Seek to explain the psychology or motives of the prisoner. You might draw on a real case or make a composite case.

9. Once in history Germany had a really famous crime that made its travelling around the world. The so called “Cannibal of Rothenburg” (Kannibale von Rothenburg) Armin Meiwes killed a man, chopped him up and ate him. According to him flesh of a person would taste like the one from a pork. But before he chopped him up, as his victim was still alive, they both cut up the reproductive organ of his victim and ate it together. Afterwards, he killed the 43 – old man and chopped his dead body up as far that he could freeze the man. The rest of the body was buried in his garden. Later on, he started to eat the flesh, fried with a pepper sauce, and regarding to him, nothing ever had him more sexually aroused than eating and killing him. “It is as would someone long his whole life for a Ferrari and could have sometime the possibility to get one”, according to him. The Criminal, Armin Meiwes developed such phantasies through his childhood. At first, his family and he consisted of 4 members, his dead, his mum and his brother. His dead left his mum and through that she developed a hate against men. At the same time, his brother has left him for going to college. Therefore, on his mum and he lived together but through the hate of his mum she did not care about him anymore and left him alone. Throughout that he developed inferiority complexes and his first thoughts of killing people. After his mother died he purposely looked for people who are willing to be killed and eaten. After 2 years of searching he found one, the diploma – engineer Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes (Short: Bernd Brandes). They met each other and M. killed him, chopped him up and ate him. The Police caught him then due to a student saw another online – advertisement of Armin Meiwes, if another one is willing to be killed and eaten. He admitted the crime immediately and is since then because of manslaughter for 8,5 years in prison. What comes afterwards is still unclear. Relate various crime statistics: 3 Chart a crime: “Cannibal of Rothenburg”

10. According to many public prosecutors his motive is lust due to he says, that nothing ever could make him being so sexually aroused than that. Probably also his inferiority complexes from his childhood are playing a big role in his motive because he had already phantasies of killing someone in his childhood which lead to the fact that he deled his whole life with this thoughts and eventually made him letting them become true. Bernd Brandes was as said above a at that time 43 – year – old diploma engineer who worked for the SIEMENS AG in Berlin. He agreed with Meiwes to be killed and eaten. Before he eventually killed him though, the both met at around 9 pm at the 9th March 2001 in Meiwes’ bedroom and Brandes swallowed 20 sleeping pills and half a bottle of schnapps. Afterwards, they cut of Brandes’ reproductive Organ, fried it and ate it together. Brandes – heavily bleeding – took a bath while Meiwes was reading a star trek novel. At around 5 in the morning, Meiwes eventually killed Brandes by stepping him with a big kitchen knife, while kissing him in the neck. Those were the last moments of Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes. This crime is seen as an offense against society due to Meiwes disturbed the peace of the dead and did not show any respect towards the death and thus not towards the normal circular of the life and society. Actually, his social life as an adult was pretty good. He was loved by the neighbors through repairing their cars or inviting them round for dinner. He also had a girlfriend named Bettina L. and everyone thought nothing is going wrong with him. Due to that the society is for a reason more afraid and even more mindful. Therefore, it affected a lot of people that something serious is happening in Germany and even in their closest environment. The society got heavenly affected by such a crime and some of them cannot even realize that Meiwes was only put for 8,5 years in prison. So, even the relationship between the society and the government was weakened but they could not judge him in another way because cannibalism is not forbidden in Germany but it is still not reasonable for a lot of people. Relate various crime statistics: Chart a crime: “Cannibal of Rothenburg”

11. Relate various crime statistics: For the police it was not hard to solve this case due to Meiwes did not give any resistance or hid after his crime. A student stumbled over his advertisement in the internet and gave that to the police so they came, arrested him and Meiwes did immediately admit what he did but did not see what he did wrong because his victim agreed to be eaten. Then against, it was way more difficult for the courts to judge this case of crime, because as mentioned above, cannibalism is basically not forbidden in Germany. Also that Meiwes could proof that he is not guilty of murder because he videotaped how Brandes agreed to be killed, makes it hard for the judges, because they could not judge him for a murder case. So, the only way of judging him was taking the indictment of sexual pleasure and disturbing the peace of the dead. Eventually they could also add manslaughter and the highest punishment for that was 12 years of prison but due to he had proofs that he was not guilty they could only put him for 8,5 years in prison. So, there has to be found a new method or new law how to judge this. This would be a landmark case. Corrections for Meiwes were not applied yet. Probably he will be out in a psychological hospital after he has been released and will be under total monitoring in order ot help him that he is not going to get relapsed. Maybe they can even increase the time of his arrest but that is until now still unclear. Chart a crime: “Cannibal of Rothenburg”