In the field of immigration policies, the Senate has made its position clear by axing the post of Advisor on Immigrant Welfare. The position of the Senate on immigration questions seems to be that "foreigners² intending to stay in Germany long term have to immediately take charge of their own integration and do not need special institutions to represent their interests. Senator Schill has already made very clear just how welcome immigrants are in Hamburg. During the last election campaign he was able to claim that "foreigners² were "guzzling up Germany¹s prosperity for breakfast² without being contradicted by his coalition partners.

The concepts of the Senate in the areas of domestic and judicial policy are equally reactionary, and also represent a return to ideas which were generally considered to have been consigned to the dustbin of history. Roger Kusch, the Justice Senator responsible for these concepts, is turning ideas about the deterrent effect of penal measures into official Senate policy. These ideas are scientifically unfounded, have been proved to be false, and are therefore a clear case of legal hocus-pocus. Kusch and, of course, Schill have been loudly singing the praises of redundant theories about the deterrent effect of the threat of long prison sentences and a hard prison regime. In the meantime, many influential criminologists and members of the judiciary have warned against the dangerous consequences of the "new old² concepts. This does not, however, seem to have had any effect on the Senate¹s plans. <next page>