. NMT03-T0229
Volume III · Page 229
[fre…] quently from criminal courts and civil sections who hardly were up to the required standards. Quite a number of judges in the Special Court are not even members of the Party.
4. Due to the development of the Special Courts, the ordinary criminal courts, especially the criminal court sections, have undergone an extreme decline in importance. While Special Courts are overburdened with work, some criminal court sections have hardly as much to do as they had in peacetime. Furthermore, the latter now having only to deal with trifling transgressions, they are gradually becoming less familiar with severe cases. It is reported that the prosecution now shows a tendency to bring many cases before the Special Courts which actually do not belong to their jurisdiction. On the one hand this is due to the prosecutors having greater confidence in the Special Courts, on the other to the fact that thus a delay of the execution of the sentence through appeal is made impossible.
5. The permanent overburdening of the Special Courts had led in some districts to a gradual vanishing of their particular advantage, their rapid sentencing. The Special Courts are said to proceed with such delay that at times the prison term imposed by the court is already absorbed by the custody preceding trial.
It may be stressed that said development of the Special Court jurisdiction is undesirable. In the interest of a rapid and severe punishment of the really outstanding crimes and transgressions it should be attempted to maintain the character of the Special Courts as "Courts Martial of the Home Front" [Standgerichte der Inneren Front].
1. In regard to organization, the following is pointed out:
a. At some Special Courts several chambers were established. Experiences with several chambers are varying, but in general not favorable. If the chambers are proceeding under different Presidency and with different personnel, several chambers are actually equal to several Special Courts. Consequently it is possible that the uniformity of jurisdiction disappears even within one Special Court. Not in all places and instances the ability to preserve a uniform jurisdiction within the Special Court through an exchange of ideas and experiences and through an exchange of associate judges among the different chambers is to be found.
b. Even greater is the danger of a not uniform jurisdiction if new Special Courts with competence in a limited district are established. It is yet considerably harder to bring about an exchange of ideas and experiences and exchange of associate judges
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