»The Amendments to Section 244 of the German Code of Criminal Procedure through the ›Act to increase the efficiency and practicality of criminal proceedings‹ (2017) and the ›Act to modernise criminal proceedings‹ (2019) and their impact on the defendant«: The thesis explores the 2017 and 2019 reforms of section 244 of the German Code of Criminal Procedure. The thesis concludes that the two reforms did not significantly advance their stated objectives to accelerate criminal proceedings and to decrease the workload of first instance criminal courts. However, contrary to what had been criticised by opponents of the amendments, the thesis finds that the rights of the defendant