Measures to Obtain Evidence in Drug Street Dealings - A Comparative Study of Australian and German Criminal Law Enforcement

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, grade: very good, University of South Australia, course: Comparative Law, language: English, abstract: Drugs have always been and will continue to be a vice of human society. They cause 'harm to [both] users [and] their families', are a danger to the users' health, and impose enormous costs on society, especially on the public health system. Moreover, a correlation between the use of drugs and other crimes can be found (drug-crime nexus) because their addiction often forces users to commit other offences in order to finance their habit (drugs-related crime). Therefore, drugs can be looked at as a threat to the welfare of community. Although changing attitudes and/or recreational activities might alter which kind of drug is favoured the most at the time being, the core problem stays the same over time. Therefore, how to deal with drug crimes and related issues is a topic that remains contemporary and is always worth considering. The following research paper examines drug law enforcement measures in cases of street dealings in both Australia and Germany. But first, it is necessary to give a brief general overview over the differences between the two legal systems with regard to drug offences and their enforcement.