Germany downgrades CSA image possession from felony to misdemeanor, lowers minimum sentences

[MaidOfAle]

Summary: https://reduxx.info/pro-pedophile-activist-group-celebrates-as-germany-decriminalizes-child-porn-possession/

Bundestag press release (german) from earlier in the legislative process: https://www.bundestag.de/presse/hib/kurzmeldungen-1002810

English translation ⬇

("hib" is short for "heute im bundestag", "today in the Bundestag". A "hib report" is word for word a "today in the Bundestag report", it seems to be a regular daily publication of some type.)

Berlin: (hib/SCR) On Wednesday, the Legal Affairs Committee paved the way for a reduction in the minimum penalties for “dissemination, acquisition and possession of child pornographic content”. A bill introduced by the federal government (20/10540) passed the committee in an amended version with votes from the SPD, Alliance 90/The Greens and FDP as well as the Left against the votes of the CDU/CSU and with the AfD abstaining.

According to the draft, possession and acquisition should in future be punishable with a minimum penalty of three months' imprisonment, and distribution with a minimum penalty of six months' imprisonment. The offenses regulated in Section 184b of the Criminal Code are therefore classified as misdemeanors and not as crimes. This should make it possible again in the future to discontinue proceedings in accordance with Sections 153 and 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO) or to dispose of them by means of a penalty order in accordance with Sections 407 ff. of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

At the request of the coalition factions, the committee decided to make a consequential change to Section 127 of the Criminal Code (“Operating criminal trading platforms on the Internet”). It is intended to ensure that offenses that have been downgraded to misdemeanors remain covered by the standard.

In its draft, the federal government cites feedback and demands from practice for a tightening of the penalty framework in 2021. The lack of the possibility of discontinuing proceedings or disposing of them by means of a penalty order has shown that “in proceedings involving suspected offenses at the lower end of criminal liability, this means that a reaction appropriate to the offense and guilt is no longer possible in every individual case is guaranteed". The conference of the justice ministers of the federal states also joined the demands from practice. The maximum penalties, which were also made more stringent with the 2021 reform, will be retained.

The final discussion in the Bundestag is on the agenda on Thursday evening, May 16, 2024. The draft law does not require approval in the Bundesrat.

The hib report on the government draft: ^www.bundestag.de/presse/hib/kurzmeldeen-992354^

The hib report on the hearing on the draft law: ^www.bundestag.de/presse/hib/kurzmeldeen-99763^^2^

The report on the 1st reading of the bill on das-parlament.de: ^www.das-parlament.de/inland/recht/mindesttraf-fuer-kinderpornografie-delikte-soll-sinken^

Mainstream media coverage of this endangerment of children so far: see GIF

The links didn't survive Google translation but are in the original document for anyone who speaks German.

What a horrible development. I hope this doesn't go unnoticed. I wonder if the Internet Watch Foundation will pick this up (and if there is a German equivalent).

How did this happen? Have campaigners been able to infiltrate political parties again like PIE tried? I'm sure they'll be paying attention and look to emulate this in other places. Absolutely shocking

This at the same time the courts were fining a politician for using publicly available government stats on crime in a social media post.

The AP report explains the reasoning. The max sentence will stay the same but the minimum sentence is going to be lower for the reasons given.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved plans to reduce a one-year minimum sentence for spreading child sexual abuse images, changing a rule that was introduced less than three years ago but officials say has proven to be too inflexible in practice. German law currently stipulates that a person who “disseminates child pornographic content or makes it available to the general public” is punished with a prison sentence of between one and 10 years. Before the reform by Germany’s previous government that took effect in July 2021, it provided for sentences ranging from three months to five years.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said the upper limit will stay in place, but the new minimum sentence has resulted in “numerous problems in practice.”
“In particular, people who receive such material involuntarily — for example in the context of a WhatsApp parents’ group — risk a minimum sentence of one year,” Buschmann said in a statement. The same, he added, also applies “in the case of teachers who have discovered child pornographic material on students’ cellphones and have forwarded it to alert the affected parents.”
https://apnews.com/article/germany-child-sexual-abuse-19e743b19057aa7345bf3cba4a8f6fff

"in the case of teachers who have discovered child pornographic material on students’ cellphones and have forwarded it to alert the affected parents."

Why would you forward that, even under those circumstances? Surely you confiscate the phone and notify whatever Germany calls the DSL?

people who receive such material involuntarily shouldn't be prosecuted. Let alone sentenced.

Truth is there is such a volume the prisons and courts would be overwhelmed. A bit like why sex isn't included in the hate crimes legislation.

It's just a bit hard to protect women and children so we shouldn't bother.

Quite. It's a reason for training and information not a change in law.

Well, I know two people who sexually abused children they were in a position of being a caregiver to (images were part of the charges, but not the main ones). One of them was convicted and served 18 months in prison. The other pled guilty and served absolutely no prison time, not even time served (he was never on remand), just had to pay a penalty fine.

This was not in Germany (or the UK for that matter), but it blows my mind the sentencing around CSA. That you can plead guilty to sexually abusing a child in your care over an extended period of time and not serve any prison time or have any real sanctions just I can't get my head around that.

If you read the report you would have seen that the justice ministers of the several states, plus the Federal government have found the previous position gave rise to problems in practice.

It's about the more efficient administration of justice not "campaigners being able to infiltrate political parties".

Not shocking in the slightest.

And yet the german equivalent of PIE is celebrating this like all their Christmases came at once.

And it took the mass sexual assault of women in Cologne to change their parlous rape laws. But this is quick.

It’s because the legislation changes from 2021 had not been considered carefully enough and therefore caused too many issues. It’s a prime example of legislations being implemented without considering concerns from expert parties. The rules that were tightened a few years ago have been reverted - that’s all.