Press release No. 425 of 1 November 2019
WIESBADEN – In 2018, the courts in Germany convicted roughly 712,300 defendants by final judgment, according to provisional results of the criminal statistics of the courts. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that this was a decrease of roughly 3,700 defendants convicted, or 0.5%, compared with the previous year. The criminal proceedings against another roughly 156,800 people ended with court decisions other than convictions (for example, acquittal, dismissal of proceedings). Defendants can be convicted in accordance with German criminal law only if they were of criminal responsibility age, that is 14 years or older, at the time of the offence.
