Parteiengesetz und Strafrecht

Multiple party finance scandals, including those surrounding the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) of the state of Hesse as well as the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of the city of Cologne, have made the Political Parties Act the center of political and legal discussion. As a result, the criminal justice system was faced with the necessity of dealing with this problem in certain criminal cases and the legislature too reacted by passing new legislation concerning Germany's Political Parties Act in 2002. This work is the first monograph that deals with the question of whether or not people who violated the legal rules of the Political Parties Act may be subjected to criminal punishment as well. The author focuses on the penal provision of »breach of trust« as well as the newly created penal provisions of the Political Parties Act ( Section 31 d). He argues that criminal law as well can contribute to supporting obedience to the Political Parties Act.