Sentencing, Judicial Discretion, and Political Prisoners in Pre-War Nazi Germany

Abstract

The tools of econometric analysis and inferential statistics reveal that senior Nazi-era judges in pre-war Germany exhibited statistically significant levels of discretion in their sentencing of individuals convicted of high treason or treason. In fact, some of these judges, though appointed to the People’s Court to serve the Nazi state, were inclined to show relative leniency, within certain political limits, when taking into account the characteristics, backgrounds, affiliations, actions, and experiences of those whom they convicted. A modicum of judicial autonomy can co-exist with dictatorship so long as it enhances the efficiency of the courts and does not impugn the regime.

Hitler’s Judges: Ideological Commitment and the Death Penalty in Nazi Germany

“…We consider all such cases until the end of World War II; Geerling et al . () examines cases only from the pre‐war years. Second, our focus is on the imposition of the death penalty; Geerling et al .…”

“…Second, our focus is on the imposition of the death penalty; Geerling et al . () looks at sentencing more generally. Third, and perhaps most importantly, we examine the role of both defendant and judicial characteristics in influencing sentence outcomes; Geerling et al .…”

“…Third, and perhaps most importantly, we examine the role of both defendant and judicial characteristics in influencing sentence outcomes; Geerling et al . () only considers defendant characteristics. Given that Geerling et al .…”

Legally Irrelevant Factors in Judicial Decision-Making: Battle Deaths and the Imposition of the Death Penalty in Nazi Germany

“…More specifically, our findings add to studies that have sought to better understand different aspects of decision-making on the People's Court (Gruchmann, 1988;Marxen, 1994;Schlüter, 1995), the closest of which to our study are Geerling et al (2016Geerling et al ( , 2017. Geerling et al (2016) examine how the sentence imposed on those convicted of treason and high treason varied with the characteristics of the defendant and the defendant's prior criminal history. Geerling et al (2017) examine the effect of the ideological commitment of the judge to Nazism on the likelihood that those convicted of treason and high treason in the People's Court were sentenced to death.…”

“…Geerling et al (2017) examine the effect of the ideological commitment of the judge to Nazism on the likelihood that those convicted of treason and high treason in the People's Court were sentenced to death. Our study, though, differs from Geerling et al (2016Geerling et al ( , 2017 in that the research question is quite different. Specifically, neither of these studies considered the relevance of extraneous factors on decision-making.…”