Erziehung durch Jugendschöffen?

At the point in time, when the examination was carried out, there were 12,000 lay judges in juvenile courts and 700 judges of a juvenile court nationwide. The dimension and the relation of these numbers illustrate, that the lay judges of a juvenile court are important protagonists of a juvenile court's lawsuit. Nevertheless there is almost no information about them. This state experiences a fundamental change through this examination. By surveying simultaneously both lay judges and professional judges of juvenile courts this examination furthermore offers a straight comparison of self-assessment and external assessment. All of this can be conducted due to an extraordinary rate of return on a reliable empirical basis. In this way the practice of justice and the judiciary administrations of the federal states can be provided with important information about the role, the position, and the communication of lay judges in juvenile courts as well as with information about their cooperation with the professional judges of juvenile courts. At the same time available possibilities of improvement for a better utilization of the potential of a lay judge in a juvenile court are presented and concluding this examination suitable solutions are provided.