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• The recidivism rather, after completion of the sentence, for those placed on
probation is 59.6%
these statistics show a difference of nearly 20 percent; however, it must be kept in
mind that they do not control for differences between the offenders. it is likely that less
serious offenders, and hence those less likely to re-offend, were placed on probation rather
than given a custodial sentence.
Juvenile Probation in Berlin
by Gunter May
Berlin, the German capital, has 3.4 million inhabitants of which 228,218 are between
the ages of 14 and 21 4 , the target group for probation services. a population sub-group of
importance is made up of 466,000 foreigners living in Berlin of which 33,280 enter within
the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system. taking a look at the number of youth and
young people (between the ages of 14 and 21) on probation we see that in 2006, based
on the study carried out by the National institute of statistics, there were 2394 minors on
probation. of these 1597 were German citizens; the remaining 797 were foreigners. these
cases are dealt with by 42 probation officers, each of which has a caseload of 57 even
though the theoretical limit is 50.
in analyzing the educational level of these minors, it is essential to underline a
key point: nearly all of the minors who were placed on probation either did not have a
diploma, had a low-level diploma, or were in the process of attaining a low-level diploma 5 .
More than half (61.9%) do not have a diploma; 28.5% have obtained a diploma from
the “Hauptschulabschluss” or were in the process of doing so (obtained at the age of 16
when the cycle of obligatory education ends and represents the lowest degree possible);
8.9% have a “realschulabschluss” diploma or were in the process of doing so (mid-level
diploma, obtained at the age of 17 and represents one year of more in-depth study after
completing the obligatory schooling); only 0.7% of minors placed on probation have
completed secondary school or were about to do so.
employment data paints a similar picture in that more than 40 percent (42%) were
registered as unemployed with the employment offices, 13 percent were still attending
school, 12 percent were attending courses to facilitate their entry into the job market as
proposed by the employment offices, 9 percent were taking vocational training classes, 4
percent were engaged in occasional work, and only 6 percent were regularly employed.
information is not available for the employment status of the remaining minors.
4 landesstatistikamt Berlin-Brandenberg 2008: Berlin in zahlen. www.statistik-berlin-brandenberg.de
5 Note that the educational system in Germany divides students into different groups and types of schools
during adolescence. the schools that they attend then limit their future occupation or career as well as the ability
to attend university or seek further degrees.
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