Placement in an institution for offenders in need of withdrawal treatment under section 22 StGB

Placement in an institution for offenders in need of withdrawal treatment attaches to three requirements. First, the person must be addicted to the abuse of an intoxicating substance or narcotic. Second, the person must commit an offence connected with or attributable to that addiction. Third, there must be a danger that the person will commit further offences in connection with the addiction.

The inner connection between addiction and offence is the core of the measure. Not every offence of an addicted person suffices; there must be a link to the addiction, whether the offence arises from it or is attributable to it. The dangerousness prognosis, too, relates to this connection, since it concerns further offences in connection with the addiction.

The measure is omitted in certain circumstances. It does not apply where the requirements of placement under section 21 StGB are met, where an attempt at withdrawal treatment appears hopeless or where the means necessary for the measure are not available. Placement thus remains confined to cases in which treatment is sensible and feasible.

Placement under section 22 StGB must be distinguished from placement under section 21 StGB. Both are custodial preventive measures, but they attach to different causes. Section 21 StGB concerns placement for a serious and lasting mental disorder on which the underlying offence is based. Section 22 StGB, by contrast, concerns addiction to an intoxicating substance or narcotic and aims at withdrawal treatment.

The law sets a clear relationship. Placement under section 22 StGB is omitted where the requirements of placement under section 21 StGB are met. So where a mental disorder within the meaning of section 21 StGB is decisive, that measure takes priority. Only where its requirements are not met does placement for addiction come into consideration.

The distinction has considerable consequences. Placement under section 22 StGB is limited from the outset to two years, whereas placement under section 21 StGB does not have this fixed upper limit. The correct classification therefore determines the possible duration and the enforcement. It regularly rests on an expert opinion, which the court and the defence evaluate carefully.

Placement under section 22 StGB is limited to two years; it may not exceed this duration. Within the limit the actual duration depends on the success of treatment and on the continuing dangerousness. Where the measure was ordered alongside a sentence, the time spent in the enforcement of the measure must be taken into account.

The measure is to be enforced only for as long as its purpose requires. Under section 25 StGB the court must examine of its own motion at least once a year whether continued placement is still necessary. The annual period runs from the last decision at first instance. If the dangerousness falls away, the person is to be released and the measure lifted.

Conditional release from the custodial preventive measure is governed by section 47 StGB. It requires that it can be assumed the dangerousness no longer exists. A probationary period as well as instructions and probation assistance may be ordered, accompanying the transition into a life without addiction and without further offences.