Lay judges and juvenile lay judges

The lay judges implement the principle of popular participation in the administration of justice. They work towards a generally understandable and transparent procedure and bring the legal awareness and values of the people into the main hearing and the judgment. In doing so, the lay assessors' sense of justice as judges with no special legal training and their own professional and life experience should be incorporated into the proceedings. At the same time, lay assessors should strengthen trust in the judiciary and the willingness to act in accordance with the law and ensure that criminal justice remains rooted in the legal consciousness of the population.

Lay assessors are honorary judges with the same voting rights as the professional judges participating in the main trial. They take part in all decisions to be made by the court during the main hearing. They are subject only to the law and are not bound by any instructions. They judge the guilt or innocence of a defendant and bear the same responsibility for acquittal or conviction as the professional judges. This can be seen, for example, in the fact that a two-thirds majority in the court is required for a conviction and the type and amount of the sentence. In Germany, no one can be convicted against the votes of both lay judges.

The office of lay assessor may be conferred on any German citizen if he or she

• has reached the age of 25 in the year of election as a lay judge
• is not older than 69 years of age
• is in good health to perform the duties of the office
• reside in Bad Homburg at the time of inclusion in the list of nominees for the committee for the election of lay judges
• have the ability to hold public office
• have not been sentenced to more than six months' imprisonment for a criminal offense or are not under investigation for an offense that could result in the loss of the ability to hold public office.
• Juvenile lay judges should also have educational qualifications and experience in educating young people.

Your application will be placed on the desired list of nominees (lay assessor or youth lay assessor). The lists of nominees, consisting of voluntary applications and/or persons randomly selected from the district's register of applicants, are adopted by the municipal council or the youth welfare committee and then made available to the public to allow objections to one or more persons on the lists. The lists of nominees should each contain at least twice the number of nominations to be submitted to the competent district court.

Inclusion in the lists of nominations does not mean that the candidates will actually be appointed to the office of lay judge.

Once the objection period has expired, the list of nominations is forwarded to the competent district court. There, a committee for the election of lay assessors, chaired by a local court judge, elects the necessary number of main lay assessors and substitute lay assessors by a two-thirds majority. The selected persons receive further information from the court after the election. Persons not selected will also be informed by the court.

Responsible for lay assessors

City of Bad Homburg

Department 30.1 Law and Insurance

z. Ms. Rögler-Rumscheidt / Ms. Suarez

Tech. Town Hall

Bahnhofstr. 16 - 18

61352 Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe

E-Mail: Frauke.Roegler-Rumscheidt@bad-homburg.de

Responsible for juvenile lay assessors

City of Bad Homburg

Department 50.2 Children and youth support

z. Ms. Gröschl

Town Hall Square 1

61348 Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe

E-mail: marina.groeschl@bad-homburg.de