MUNICH (dpa-AFX) – According to the Bavarian Minister of Justice Georg Eisenreich (CSU), fare evasion on buses and trains could also be punished as an administrative offense instead of a criminal offence. “It is important to me that people who are traveling without a ticket are not criminalized,” said Eisenreich of the German Press Agency. He sees a need for action there. But “notorious fare dodgers should continue to be appropriately sanctioned with a criminal offence.” This protects the transport companies and the vast majority of honest customers who bought tickets and ultimately had to pay for the fare dodgers.
The decision on the criminal liability of so-called fraudulent promotion is made exclusively by the federal government. At their autumn conference, the justice ministers of the federal states called on the federal government to take action. From the point of view of the Bavarian Ministry of Justice, a gradation between an administrative offense and, for example in repeated cases, a criminal offense is conceivable. In an Infratest-dimap survey for the “Ask the State” platform, 69 percent of respondents said fare evasion should in future be punished as an administrative offense with a fine. But only 45 percent are against a substitute prison sentence for dodgers who are caught and do not pay their fine./rol/DP/zb
