The research project "Criminal proceedings and demographic change" deals with the question of whether criminal procedural law can meet the challenges of an ageing society. Spectacular cases and experiences from everyday life in the justice system also give rise to an investigation from a jurisprudential perspective as to whether the current instruments of criminal procedure law meet the requirements for an age-appropriate and constitutionally compliant treatment of older defendants accused of criminal offences.

The aim of analysing this complex of issues from a legal perspective is to develop solutions that are both dogmatically convincing and practicable in order to ensure that senior citizens are dealt with appropriately in the judiciary in the future. The project accompanies an initiative of the Public Prosecutor General's Office in Cologne to create an age-appropriate infrastructure in the administration of criminal law by the public prosecutor's office.