The Law and the Practice of Forced Placements under Sections 63, 64 and 66 of the German Criminal Code

theme No.: 27d
responsible federal state: Bavaria
date: 10.09.2023 - 15.09.2023

The conference is aimed at judges and public prosecutors who are concerned with proceedings concerning the authorization and the continuation of forced preventive placements under sec. 63, 64 and 66 of the German Criminal Code (CC). Law reforms, the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court and policy discussions have recently attracted more and more public attention. Against this background, the following topics will be dealt with, partially in an interdisciplinary setting:

• Reports on the day-to-day practice of forced placement under sec. 63, 64 and 66 CC, especially about therapies and sentence execution privileges
• Forced placement in a mental clinic pursuant to sec. 63 CC: An overview on the current case law and on the constitutional requirements as to continuous review of the placement decision under sec. 67e CC
• Forced placement in a detoxification clinic pursuant to sec. 64 CC: Particular dilemmas during the preliminary enquiries and during the trial phase; sec. 64 CC and plea bargaining
• Forced placement in security detention pursuant to sec. 66 CC: Overview of the law on security detention for the judicial and the prosecutorial practice; especially problems with security detention merely reserved in the judgment (sec. 66c CC and sec. 19 of the German Act on the Execution of Sentences)
• Relevant topics for all three kinds of forced placement: How to elaborate prognostic expertise (on the continuing dangerousness) and how to judicially control this expertise.

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