Strafgesetzbuch

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The Strafgesetzbuch is the German, Swiss and Austrian criminal law. It is often abbreviated to StGB. This article focuses on the German code.

History

The German Strafgesetzbuch goes back to the Strafgesetzbuch of the German Empire passed in the year 1871 which was mostly identical to the StGB of the North German Confederation.

This Reichsstrafgesetzbuch (Imperial Criminal Law) was changed very many times in the following decades as the legislature had to react not only to changing moral concepts and constitutional provision granted by the Grundgesetz, but also to scientific and technical reforms. Examples of such new crimes are money laundering or computer sabotage.

The StGB serves as a codification of criminal law, i.e. although there are various provisions affecting criminal law, such as definitions of crimes and law enforcement, in other acts, the StGB is the central legal text and constitutes the foundation of Germany's criminal law.

Structure

The StGB is divided into two main parts:

General Part ("Allgemeiner Teil"): in which general issues are arranged, for example:

Area of the law's validity
Law-related definitions
Capacity to be adjudged guilty
Perpetration and incitement or accessoryship
Necessary Defence
General provisions for Punishments (Fines, and Imprisonment)
Statutes of limitations
Attempts

Special Part ("Besonderer Teil"): in which the different criminal offences and their definitions and punishments are listed, for example:

Crimes against the democratic rule of law
Crimes against public order
Crimes against the person of a sexual nature
Crimes against life
Crimes against another person's wealth (for example robbery and theft)

External links

[StGB vom Bundesjustizministerium und Juris]

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