Hardship or privilege-crediting time spent in forensic addiction treatment (section 64 of the German penal code) against prison sentences from other criminal proceedings in Germany

Recent reform of the legal framework governing forensic psychiatric detention in Germany aimed at fulfilling constitutional requirements of proportionality regarding the order and the length of detention. While nearly all of the changes affect detention in a psychiatric hospital, only one addition concerns the regulation of detention in a forensic drug rehabilitation centre (section 64). Unfortunately, the law does not discriminate between offenders detained in a forensic psychiatric hospital and those detained in a forensic drug rehabilitation centre. Time spent in forensic addiction treatment may be offset against earlier prison sentences. This results in an unjust privilege for persistent offenders with an addiction. The reform is likely to increase the number, duration and costs of detentions in forensic addiction treatment. The author suggests that sentencing according to section 67 (2) is adjusted to the actual duration of successful treatment.