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The Desire for Public Safety and How “Judge Merciless” Became a State Senator

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Lars Schmidt

Extract

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11 September 2001 had many effects on many spheres of our lives. One of these effects was used to great personal effect by Ronald Barnabas Schill, a criminal law judge at the Hamburg Landgericht (Regional Court). In July, 2000, he founded an eponymous political party, the “Schill-Partei,” to run for the Senate of Bundesland (Federal State) Hamburg in the elections of 23 September 2001. His party, essentially, has a one -issue platform: public safety. Having the highest crime rate of all German cities, this topic is very important in Hamburg. Schill's party fills a gap in the political market in Hamburg and polled 10% in surveys leading up to the September election. Certainly, some of these votes can be accounted for as protest votes, aiming more for political change in the city-state's politics than serving as a ringing endorsement of Schill. Schill seems to have especially benefited from the events of 11 September. Schill, well known as “Judge Merciless,” was able to hit the nerves of the voters by playing on their fear and the shock, particularly spinning the fact that two of the terrorists had lived in Hamburg. The nickname “Judge merciless” had been created by the press because of Schill's rigorous execution of the law and his often outlandish behavior towards the accused and spectators at his trials over which he presided. He is identified with “law and order” or zero tolerance politics Schill focused the last weeks of his campaign on claims that their city had become a nest of terrorism; now more than ever, offering his strict brand of politics emphasizing public safety as the answer. This campaign strategy seems to have been successful, increasing Schill's vote in the election to 20% and guaranteeing that his party a share in the new government along with the State Senator of the Interior position for Schill. In spite of this success, Schill was recently indicted for the crime of perversion of justice pursuant to § 339 Strafgesetzbuch (StGB — German Criminal Code).

Type
Research Article
Information
German Law Journal , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , E4
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

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