The fundamental laws of juvenile criminal justice are the Criminal Law and the Juvenile Court Law,as a special law of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
  The juvenile court(Jugendgericht)has jurisdiction over delinquency cases committed by juveniles(acts to be imposed criminal punishment when committed by adults)and delinquency cases committed by senior juveniles under certain conditions(i.e.in totally evaluating senior juvenile's personality,taking into consideration the circumstances,as well as from the viewpoint of moral and spiritual development at the time of the act,it is obvious that he/she is still equivalent to a juvenile,or when in view of the nature,circumstances,or motive of the act,he/she should be treated as a juvenile delinquent).
  There are three kinds of juvenile courts:juvenile trial department(Jugendkammer)of a district court(Landgericht),juvenile joint judge-jury court(Jugendshoffengericht),and juvenile section judge(Jugendrichter).In the juvenile trial department of a district court,a main juvenile section that consists of three judges including one chief judge and two selected citizens in charge of juvenile cases has jurisdiction over specific major crime cases.A juvenile joint judge-jury court,set up in a county court(Amtsgericht)that consists of one juvenile section judge as the chief judge and two selected citizens in charge of juvenile cases has jurisdiction over all the delinquency cases that are not dealt with within the jurisdiction of the other two juvenile courts.A juvenile section judge who belongs to the county court exercises jurisdiction over comparatively minor cases and may pronounce educational/disciplinary actions or a sentence as criminal punishment against juvenile of one year or less.Proceedings of juvenile delinquent cases at juvenile courts including sentencing are not released to the public(senior juvenile delinquent cases are released to the public as a general rule.).
  For minor cases or when educational measures are already taken or have been started,a prosecutor may suspend an indictment even if there is enough evidence of the facts to bring in an indictment.A judge may also suspend proceedings for the similar cases above-mentioned even after the prosecutor has brought in an indictment.
  For juveniles and senior juveniles who are found guilty,juvenile courts primarily order educational actions(Erziehungsmasregeln),and when educational actions are insufficient,impose disciplinary actions(Zuchtmittel)or a sentence as criminal punishment against juvenile(Jugendstrafe)on them.
  Educational actions include issue of instructions(Weisungen)and(only for juveniles)order to request educational support.The instructions are orders/prohibitions designed to control the lifestyle of juveniles or senior juveniles and further foster and secure their education through these controls.
  Disciplinary actions include admonition(Verwarnung),issuing imposition of obligation(Erteilung von Auflagen)and juvenile detention(Jugendarrest).The issued imposition consists of recovery of losses caused by the act to the greatest possible extent,apology to the victim,providing labor services,and payment of a certain amount of money to public facilities.Juvenile detention includes holiday detention(detention for one holiday or two holidays every week),short-term detention(detention imposed instead of holiday detention;short-term detention of two days are regarded to equal one day holiday detention),and sustained detention(detention for a period of one week or longer up to four weeks).
  A sentence as criminal punishment against juvenile deprives juveniles of liberty in juvenile prisons,and for juveniles,a term of imprisonment is six months(short-term)and five years(long-term)(ten years for senior juveniles)as a general rule.However,for felonies which have imprisonment with a maximum statutory penalty of over ten years,long-term imprisonment is ten years.
  Further,it is possible to inflict educational action in conjunction with disciplinary action and also to inflict a sentence as criminal punishment against juvenile in conjunction with issue of instruction,imposition of obligation,etc.