contents
The cases at the Cantonal Court of St. Gallen have increased by 42 percent. Not only, but also because of country references. Because things will not change so quickly at the national level, the canton should now react.
In February 2016, Swiss voters accepted the SVP’s deportation initiative. The law on the initiative came into force in October 2016. The law clearly regulates which offenses result in expulsion from the country. This also includes minor crimes such as a kiosk break-in, which counts as theft and trespassing.
A country expulsion is often not accepted
A country expulsion can have massive consequences for the convicted person. That is why convicts are more willing to appeal a judgment from the district court to the cantonal court – the second instance in the canton of St. Gallen – says Jürg Diggelmann, president of the criminal division of the St. Gallen cantonal court.
A country expulsion can have massive consequences for the convict.
Last year, the judges at the Cantonal Court of St. Gallen judged 42 percent more cases than in the previous year. 166 cases more, that means: more negotiations, more administrative work, and in cases with country expulsions also longer judgments to justify the expulsion.
More work from the cantonal court to the federal court
The workload for judges has increased massively with the implementation of the deportation initiative. Not only in the canton of St. Gallen. Also in other cantons and at the Federal Supreme Court as the highest authority.
“The cantonal courts usually wait more than a year for decisions from the federal court,” says Jürg Diggelmann, president of the criminal division of the St. Gallen cantonal court. This situation is new.
We usually wait more than a year for a decision from the Federal Supreme Court.
“If the courts hadn’t had too much work to do beforehand, then this flood of cases of expulsion from the country could at best be dealt with,” says Jürg Diggelmann, President of the Criminal Chamber of the St. Gallen Cantonal Court. However, since the new Code of Criminal Procedure came into force in 2011, there has already been a massively higher workload.
The number of charges at the Cantonal Court of St. Gallen has increased because of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the deportation initiative. The willingness to continue a case has also grown, according to the request from the regional journal Ostschweiz from Radio SRF. That’s why the judges have now reacted.
St. Gallen and Zurich are not waiting for a federal solution
The canton of Zurich has already applied for 19 additional posts at the courts. In the canton of St. Gallen, the cantonal court is currently examining how many resources it would theoretically need to cope with the additional burden. And how many additional judge positions should be applied for at the cantonal council. Nine judges are currently working at the St. Gallen cantonal court.
And the Federal Supreme Court is also calling for more judges. For Jürg Diggelmann one thing is clear: he would like the legislators to think more about such new decrees, especially in criminal law, about the effort involved and the costs they cause.