The mountain of unfinished cases piling up at public prosecutors in North Rhine-Westphalia has continued to grow. While there were still 226,000 open cases at the end of March, the number rose to 231,000 unfinished cases halfway through the year, as the "Deutsche Richterzeitung" published by the Association of Judges reported.

After Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia recorded the second highest increase in the country. The increase was 36 percent within two years - only Hamburg had more at 57 percent.

Almost 850,000 procedures were open nationwide in the middle of the year (June 30). This is an increase of 28 percent compared to mid-2021.

“A criminal justice system that is depleted of personnel is hardly able to keep up with the growing tasks,” warned the managing director of the Association of Judges, Sven Rebehn.

The criminal justice system needs to be better equipped in view of the growing tasks. The judiciary in North Rhine-Westphalia currently has 1,480 positions for public prosecutors.