The Bundestag, Parliament of Germany, approved last Thursday (16) a bill that amends the country’s Penal Codereducing minimum sentences for offenses related to the possession and distribution of child pornography.
The bill, which was presented by the government of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, determines that, from now on, the possession and acquisition of child pornographic content can be punished with a minimum sentence of three months in prison, while distribution can be penalized with at least six months in prison. Previously, the minimum sentence for such crimes was one year in prison.
The measure, which had the support of party coalitions involving Scholz’s German Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP), and was opposed by the Christian Democratic Union alliance (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, classified the offense of child pornography as a misdemeanor rather than a higher crime.
The bill justifies classifying the crime as a misdemeanor considering that there are several cases involving parents and teachers of children who download content with the intention of informing the authorities.
“Such cases occurred particularly frequently among parents and teachers of older children or teenagers who found child pornography content and passed it on to other parents, teachers or school management to inform them about the problem”, says the first article in the bill.
A controversial section of the law states that “a reclassification to a misdemeanor is also urgent and necessary, so that we can respond appropriately and with the necessary flexibility to the large proportion of juvenile delinquents. Here too, the perpetrators generally do not act to be sexually aroused by the content of child pornography, but rather out of an impulse typical of the adolescent developmental phase, such as naivety, curiosity, thirst for adventure or the desire to impress.”
The possession and distribution of materials related to child sexual abuse has been recognized as a higher crime in Germany for the first time in 2021. At that time, Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht, from the same party as Scholz, the SPD, established a minimum sentence of one year in prison for this crime. This classification remained active for the last three years, until it was overturned by the bill approved last week.
CDU-CSU deputies expressed concern about the reduction of penalties for the offense involving the distribution of material related to child sexual abuse. They argued that the possession, acquisition and distribution of child pornography should remain classified as higher-degree crimes.
The representative of an association that defends minors in Germany also criticized the project and pointed out that, with the approval of the law, the country could be violating a European Union (EU) rule that classifies any pornographic media material involving children as a serious crime. .
The approval of the law was celebrated by a group that supports pedophilia in Germany known as Krumme-13.
According to information on the website Reduxxthe group published a note on its website saying it “regretted that no politician from all coalitions [políticas da Alemanha] apologized to the thousands of people affected by the 2021 law.” According to the group, these people were “victims of the law,” which at that time made possession of child sexual abuse materials a crime.
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