According to the Ministry of Justice, the 9-euro ticket is also noticeable in the balance of criminal proceedings. The number of procedures for driving without a ticket has decreased significantly. The Justice Department wants to see consequences quickly.
Dresden (dpa/sn) - The 9-euro ticket has led to a significant drop in investigations into driving without a ticket in Saxony. According to the Ministry of Justice, the public prosecutor's offices registered a total of 264 new cases in June, July and August on suspicion of fraudulent payment. In the three comparable months of the previous year, there were 2,754, a good ten times as many procedures. Justice Minister Katja Meier (Greens) demanded that driving without a ticket be decriminalized as soon as possible.
"Criminal law must be the ultima ratio. It is time to remove driving without a ticket from the criminal code. Our figures for the 9-euro ticket clearly show that crimes of fraudulent transport are drastically reduced through inexpensive and general fare planning," explained Meier This leads to a relief for the courts and ultimately also for the prisons and saves costs for the general public.
Often, people who have been fined for driving without a ticket could not pay them at all. Then they would have to serve a so-called substitute custodial sentence in prison. This in turn generates costs. For the years 2020 and 2021, the Ministry is assuming 1.23 and 1.21 million euros for the enforcement of substitute prison sentences for fraudulent performance.
"Society isn't helped with such mostly short prison sentences, however, and the socially disadvantaged are particularly affected. We can use our resources better. That's why the Federal Minister of Justice should now quickly present a draft law that would decriminalize driving without a ticket," explained Meier .
At their autumn conference, the justice ministers decided that driving without a ticket should no longer be considered a criminal offense. Paragraph 265a paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code should be deleted without replacement.
