“How do I get compensation if I am a victim of a crime?”

2023-10-07 09:12:00

A private party is a victim of a crime who joins the criminal proceedings in order to receive compensation for the damage or impairment suffered,” answers civil law expert Birgit Leb, lawyer and partner at the law firm SCWP Schindhelm.

Damages can only be awarded in a criminal verdict if the defendant has been legally convicted. However, if the defendant is acquitted, the private party must be referred to civil law.

Despite the award in the criminal proceedings, the private party also has the opportunity to assert further claims for damages in civil law. This is often the case in practice, for example when the private party in the criminal proceedings has joined in with a merely symbolic compensation amount because the exact amount of damage has not yet been determined.

Execution possible

The award of an amount of damages in a criminal judgment represents an execution order. If the convicted person does not fulfill his obligation to pay the amount of damages awarded in the judgment to the private party within the statutory performance period (usually 14 days), the private party has the option of pursuing his claim through execution to enforce legal action against the convicted person.

Enforcement proceedings are only initiated upon a corresponding application from the creditor. The creditor has various means of execution at his disposal to carry out the execution: for example, the execution of the movable property or the execution of wages or salaries. If, for example, there are monetary debts, the debtor’s salary, wages, other claims (such as rental income), movable property or real estate can be accessed to collect them.

In principle, the creditor is free to determine the means of execution through his application for execution. For debtors with income from employment, an enforcement of wages or salaries is generally sought first. In the event that the obligated party does not have any assets that can be used for executive purposes, it is possible to wait until the obliged entity has assets that can be used for executive purposes again (for example through inheritance), because an enforcement order remains valid for 30 years.

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