From wiki, concerning the penalty for murder in Germany:
“The penalty for Mord is lifelong imprisonment, which is usually suspended after 17–18 years (15 years minimum) on a probation of 5 years or if the court decided on a special gravity (Feststellung der besonderen Schwere der Schuld), the sentence can only be suspended much later, earliest after 18 years but usually after 22–23 years (the law states that a suspension after 15 years is not possible for ‘special gravity’ crimes, but provides no explicit minimum served time).”
So - murder gets you about 15 - 23 years in Germany. Not terrible, but for the worst folks, I much prefer the death penalty.
As well, murderers kill in prison, and sometimes escape from prison. Ted Bundy killed about 50 folks, got caught, escaped, killed three more folks.
Since his execution, he hasn’t killed even a single person.
sitetest
As someone we live din German for many years and knows something about the criminal justice system there, I must say that I trust a German judge to decide who gets loose and a German police force who will not ignore those who get loose. The irony is that even during the Nazi period, where ordinary crimes are concerned, the system worked better than ours does, The policemen are better trained, and the judges better trained in the law.