Berlin Pride attack: Are German juvenile courts too lenient?
The Islamist terror attack on Berlin Pride has put the work of juvenile courts into the spotlight. Many argue the 21-year-old perpetrator should have been
The Islamist terror attack on Berlin Pride has put the work of juvenile courts into the spotlight. Many argue the 21-year-old perpetrator should have been in prison at the time of the attack. Could the terrorist attack on Berlin's Pride celebrations, allegedly by a 21-year-old Islamist, have been prevented? This question has been the subject of debate driven largely by the fact that the young German man — born in Germany in 2005 to parents of Lebanese origin — had been convicted and released just weeks before the attack. Abdul Ballout, who drove his car into a crowd in Berlin's Tiergarten park — killing one woman and injuring 31 people, some seriously — had set out last year intending to join the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) terrorist group in Syria. However, he was arrested en route in Lebanon, detained there and subsequently deported to Germany. Back in Germany, he stood trial on charges of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state. He was found guilty and sentenced in mid-May to 22 months in prison, but this sentence was initially suspended. He was released — and attacked Berlin Pride just weeks later. The day after the incident, he was shot dead by police while they were attempting to arrest him. Police 'should have kept an eye on' Berlin Pride attacker To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Juvenile sentencing can be applied to up to 20-year-olds because the brain is still developing at that age Since then, juvenile criminal law in Germany has been the focus of criticism.
Terrorism expert Peter Neumann from King's College London told the news portal T-Online: "This is a real problem. The sentences are too lenient. In my view, juvenile criminal law is sometimes interpreted too broadly. The protection of the public is not given sufficient consideration." Juvenile criminal law serves special purposes, says Frieder Dünkel, a criminologist and criminal law expert from Greifswald. "It's primarily about education, about the reintegration of the young person," he told DW. Judges have considerable leeway and can hand out admonitions or prison sentences. In Germany, a perpetrator is criminally responsible from age 14 and juvenile criminal law applies. From the age of 18, regular criminal law generally applies, with higher minimum sentences. But juvenile criminal law can also be applied to young adults aged 18 to 20 if they show "developmental delays." "This is because overall, one can still recognize significant developmental potential in 18- to 20-year-olds," Dünkel said. This is backed by neuroscientific findings, according to Dünkel, showing that the brain areas responsible for behavioral control do not fully develop until the middle of the third decade of life. This implies that a young offender can still change for the better. In May, Abdul Ballout was sentenced by the Berlin court under juvenile criminal law, even though he was already 21 at the time of his sentencing. However, he was only 20 years old when he committed the crimes he was found guilty of. Berlin attack: When deradicalization programs don't work To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'Preliminary probation' for Ballout Ballout was able to leave the courthouse because he had been granted six months of "preliminary probation," after which the court would have had to make a final decision on whether he needed to go to prison.
The BriefWire