Dhe German Association of Judges calls on Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) to correct the tightened penal provisions against child pornography as quickly as possible. From the point of view of the judiciary, the changes are not practicable and a correction is urgently needed, said judges’ association federal director Sven Rebehn the editorial network Germany (Wednesday). “The changes were pushed through at the time against the advice of all experts, whose concerns have now been fully confirmed. Since then, public prosecutors and courts have had to deal with a large number of cases that actually do not belong before the criminal courts.”
Minimum imprisonment of one year for a good deed of reconnaissance
For example, parents could face a minimum prison sentence of one year if they wanted to contribute to the clarification with good intentions. This is the case, for example, when they come across cases of child pornography in their children’s class chats, want to point this out to the school management and forward the files thoughtlessly. “As a result of the applicable criminal law, the supposedly good deed of enlightenment becomes a boomerang,” Rebehn added.
Written penal orders or suspension of proceedings against conditions are no longer possible in such cases either: “The excessive reform thus makes it more difficult to achieve graduated punishment in individual cases that is appropriate to the crime and guilt and ties up a large number of criminal justice staff, which is urgently needed to stop a growing criminal to follow the scene even more intensely.”
Minister Buschmann also recognized the problem and announced a reform in the course of the year. However, this process is not fast enough for the judges’ association: “The Federal Minister of Justice should now take up the demands of judicial practice and the state ministries of justice as quickly as possible and make a proposal for correcting the unsuccessful criminal provisions before the summer break,” said Rebehn before the conference of justice ministers, which was held in Berlin on Thursday starts.
Last week, the Vice-President of the German Lawyers’ Association, Sonka Mehner, called for the law on the possession of child pornography to be corrected. She referred to the serious case of abuse surrounding the Saarland priest Edmund Dillinger.
His nephew had found hundreds of child pornographic photos in the deceased’s estate and reported himself. There had been ambiguity as to how he could and should deal with the material found in order to contribute to the investigation without making himself liable to prosecution.
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