NCJ Number
74283
Journal
REVUE INTERNATIONALE DE DROIT PENAL Volume: 46 Issue: 3 and 4 Dated: (1975) Pages: 269-299
Date Published
1975
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This study examines an alternative penal law proposal, compiled by a panel of progressive German and Swiss jurists, which would radically change not only the current German penal statutes, but also their philosophical underpinnings.
Abstract
This 1975 article places the highly innovative and socially oriented alternative penal law proposal within the context of the penological reform currently being implemented in the Federal Republic of Germany. This proposal goes beyond the progressive correctional philosophy of recent law proposals from official Government agencies and even beyond the clearly stated 1973 decision of the Federal Constitutional Court that the only goal of corrections is social reintegration. The alternative proposal considers correctional institutions as therapeutic, problem-solving communities based on the compensatory governmental assistance that a social welfare state provides to the weaker elements of society, including emotionally disturbed and socially handicapped individuals convicted of crime. The study describes in detail the therapeutic communities envisaged in the proposal, including their physical facilities, staffing, security levels, medical and psychiatric clinics, model workshops, and educational and recreational facilities. Regulations within such holistic institutions would actively encourage contacts between guests and the outside world in the form of uncensored mail (with extremely rare exceptions), conjugal visits, and visits with relatives, friends, social workers, and even sympathetic strangers. Advocates of this proposal emphasize its limitation to certain types of sociopaths and its cost effectiveness. Savings would be realized in terms of the cost of crimes that would not be committed through reductions in recidivism rates. An 18-entry subject bibliography of original German and French works is appended.