Decree by the Fuehrer on the authority for Confirmation in
Criminal cases of
1942.
I
As far as I shall not decide myself, in my capacity as holder of the supreme judicial power, I charge the Reich Minister of Justice to regulate within his jurisdiction the confirmation of sentences passed by special courts and other penal courts. In this connection the following is ordered:
II
I authorize the Reich Minister of Justice to pass on to the presidents of the courts of appeal the right to refuse confirmation to the amount of penalty following a valid judgment upon application of the general prosecutor in as much as such nonconfirmation of the sentence is not pronounced by the Reich Minister of Justice himself.
III
In case the president of the court of appeal denies confirmation of the sentence, he will return the case to the same or another court for another award of penalty. In case it was wrongly denied or disregarded that the culprit was a people’s parasite [Volksschaedling], brutal criminal, dangerous professional criminal or a dangerous immoral criminal, he is also entitled to quash the sentence for award of a just penalty and to pass the case to the same or another court for a new trial and judgment.
IV