At present, a minimum penalty also applies, for example, to parents or teachers who point out cases by forwarding depictions of abuse. That should change.
The traffic light coalition is considering correcting the tightened penalties for child pornography and excluding minor cases. Representatives of all three coalition factions spoke out in favor of it in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (“FAZ”, Monday). A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Justice told the newspaper that the legislative need for action and possible options for action were being examined.
Two years ago, the grand coalition at the time decided to classify child pornography as a crime, with a minimum sentence of one year in prison and no possibility of closing proceedings. Now it is about a solution for minor cases – for example when parents, teachers or students point out cases of child pornography by forwarding images of abuse, or when young people send each other naked photos of themselves.
“Can refrain from criminal prosecution in trivial cases”
The parliamentary secretary of the SPD parliamentary group, Johannes Fechner, told the “FAZ” that these cases tie up too much staff that is urgently needed for the prosecution of serious sexual offenses. “Prosecutors need the ability to refrain from prosecuting minor cases.”
Green legal politician Canan Bayram explained: “Criminal law must remain the ultima ratio, and the public prosecutor’s offices and courts must have the opportunity to react to the various case constellations in a way that is appropriate to the crime and to blame.” The FDP parliamentary director Stephan Thomae also sees a need for action: “The case law does not come with the last reform to appropriate results.”
The managing director of the German Association of Judges, Sven Rebehn, sees it the same way in the newspaper: “From the point of view of judicial practice, a correction of the penal provisions against child abuse and child pornography, which will be drastically tightened in 2021, is urgently needed.”
Source: Stern
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