Where Now for European Social Democracy? - Policy Network

86WHERE NOW FOR EUROPEAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY?politicians for placing ‘law and order’ above all else. When GermanCDU/CSU politicians for example – as recently occurred – demand acurfew for all minors under the age of 14 during the evening hours,seriously consider electronic monitoring with leg cuffs for schooltruants, or support comprehensive video monitoring for entire cities,in my opinion these are over-exaggerated demands that no longermaintain the balance between personal freedom and security.Criminal prosecution must be effective and reasonableWe must create a balance between security and freedom especiallywith modern criminal procedure investigation methods.On the one hand, procedural forms must be made available toensure conviction of offenders and thereby the protection of thecommunity from crime to the greatest extent possible. On the otherhand, we must at the same time ensure that innocent people are notconvicted and that personal freedoms will be intruded upon to theleast extent possible, consistent with the goal of effective criminalprosecution.In Germany, the extent to which we want to expand DNA analysisfor purposes of criminal prosecution is currently under discussion. DNAanalysis has been hailed as almost a miracle cure in the recent past forefficient investigation of crimes. Indeed, the demand to enlarge thestatutory possibilities for these methods is repeatedly made.There have already been numerous recommendations in this field:every citizen should be included, at least all men, at the very least allpersons who have committed a crime with a sexual background. Therehas even been talk of using the opportunity of minor drug cases toexamine molecular genetic data in individual cases.Time and again the requirement of judicial authority – that is, therequirement in Germany that only a judge can order molecular genetictesting – becomes a point of disagreement. The assertion has evenbeen made that the judge hinders effective criminal prosecution.It is unmistakable that this discussion has populist featuresparticularly because of the impact of terrible crimes against smallchildren. When looked at more closely it is often immediately clear