ARCHIV - 30.06.2022, Berlin: Marco Buschmann (FDP), Bundesminister der Justiz, stellt in der Bundespressekonferenz das Eckpunktepapier zum Selbstbestimmungsgesetz vor. (zu dpa: «Vorbereitung für Corona-Herbst: Regelungen zu Maskenpflicht in Sicht ») Foto: Kay Nietfeld/dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann has promised a downgrading of fare evasion from a criminal offense to an administrative offence. “As the Ministry of Justice, we want to critically review the penal code in the coming year to see which facts are still up to date,” said the FDP politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group, according to a preliminary report on Sunday.

“This also includes the paragraph that deals with the so-called fraudulent acquisition of benefits. This also includes fare evasion.” Buschmann also wants to reduce the so-called substitute imprisonment by half. It affects people who do not pay their fines, in many cases fare dodgers. “In Germany, far too many people are in prison for offenses for which the legislature actually wants people to pay a fine – and not end up in jail,” said the minister. “We don’t want people to be imprisoned just because of their poverty.”

With the halving of the rates for the replacement prison sentence, the time for community work, with which the fines can also be paid, is also halved. “We hope that more people will choose this path. We need the limited capacities in the penal system for prisoners who have committed significantly worse crimes.”