Germany's judiciary snowed under

Nationwide, there's a lack of about 2,000 judges and public prosecutors, according to the Berlin-based German Judges Association (DRB).

The figure is only an estimate, as the justice ministries of individual states are reluctant to part with their internal data, said DRB director Sven Rebehn.

His remarks come as the judiciary is increasingly snowed under by cases and files while victims wait longer and longer for perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Not just judges at their limits

This week, the personnel board of the prosecutor's office in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt raised an alarm. In a letter to the state's justice minister, the council said staff "responsible in particular for the smooth flow of court proceedings, including court secretaries and clerical assistants, are working above and beyond their capacity and load limits, and are unable to complete the tasks handed to them in a timely fashion and in the form and quality required."

But back to the judges: North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, easily needed more than 650 extra prosecutors and judges at the end of last year; the southern state of Bavaria lacked about 430. Both states have since announced plans to create new jobs in the judiciary sector. That doesn't solve all of the personnel problems, "but it's an important signal to the other federal states," Rebehn told DW.

16,000 of Germany's 20,000 judges and 5,000 prosecutors are members of the DRB, making it the by far largest association of judges and prosecutors in the country.

Staffing shortages, backlog of files

The huge influx of refugees has taken its toll on the justice system.

Asylum-seekers almost always enter the country illegally, which means the public prosecutor inevitably has to start proceedings in every single case, even if they are dropped again just as inevitably. The result: 672,000 preliminary proceedings for illegal entry and other crimes from January 2015 to March 2016. Courts in Bavaria, the main entry point into Germany for most refugees, bore the brunt of these cases.

Nationwide, other courts are just as overtaxed: administrative courts are involved in the procedure to grant the right of asylum, while family courts are responsible for the many unaccompanied minors.

Trials take longer - at the expense of the citizens, since tasks are prioritized. There is much more pressure to shorten proceedings by "cutting deals, terminating proceedings and entering into pre-trial settlement negotiations," the DRB director said.

"It's abundantly clear that it's time to act now," Rebehn said, pointing out a survey by the Allensbach Institute (IfD) pollsters who found that nine out of 10 judges say the quality of the judiciary cannot be maintained with the current level of staff.

What's needed now, Rebehn said, is a political change of course. "As a first step, the states must fully comply with their obligations to the judiciary - 100 percent, not just 80 or 90 percent." If 2,000 extra judges and prosecutors were hired, "many of the current problems could be drastically resolved."