Investigation proceedings by public prosecutors in Germany
In 2013, the public prosecution offices in Germany terminated 4.5 million investigation proceedings. Public debate often focuses on how the proceedings are terminated.
Public prosecutors can end investigation proceedings by bringing charges. From a statistical point of view, however, this is not the general rule. Using the statistics compiled by public prosecutors and prosecutors at local courts, the German-language report on "Staatsanschwaltschaftliche Ermittlungstätigkeit in Deutschland" examines the overall structure of proceedings terminated by public prosecution offices and quantifies the relationship between bringing charges and other types of termination.
