Protection of women: Federal Cabinet decides on ankle bracelets in cases of domestic violence

The federal government wants to better protect people affected by domestic violence with an ankle bracelet for the perpetrator in the future. To this end, the cabinet has decided on a drafting aid to amend the Violence Protection Act. However, it is more than questionable whether the draft will be passed in the Bundestag before the election on February 23rd.

It stipulates that in high-risk cases family courts will in future be able to order electronic residence monitoring for three months, with the possibility of an extension for a further three months. In addition, perpetrators should be required to take part in anti-violence courses.

The states that would ultimately have to implement the Violence Protection Act hardly have any time to come to terms with the law, which was now “created shortly before,” criticized the deputy chairwoman of the Union parliamentary group, Andrea Lindholz (CSU). “A new approach in the new legislature seems to me to be more promising overall.”

Reference to positive experiences in Spain

“Almost every other day in Germany a man kills his (ex-)partner,” said the non-partisan Federal Justice Minister Volker Wissing. That is why the fight against domestic violence cannot be postponed. In Spain, for example, there have been good experiences with electronic residence monitoring in cases of domestic violence. “Electronic residence monitoring is limited to exceptional cases in which there is a concrete danger, particularly to the life and limb of the victim,” said the Federal Ministry of Justice.

Ex-husband in Saxony with electronic ankle bracelet

In some cases, the federal states are already further along on the issue and are also using police law and the regulations on leadership supervision. However, the latter only applies to convicted criminals. However, there is also a desire among state governments for a federal regulation that would simplify the process.

In Saxony it was announced this week that an ankle bracelet based on the Spanish model would now be used for the first time in the Free State to protect a woman from domestic violence. The Saxon Justice Minister Constanze Geiert and her Hessian counterpart Christian Heinz (both CDU) announced that a ban on contact and approach had been imposed against her ex-husband, who had a criminal record, and this was now being controlled with the help of the ankle bracelet. It is the first time in Germany that this technology is being used. Hesse introduced the new generation of ankle bracelets last year. Justice Minister Heinz believes it is wrong that the federal government’s draft limits the wearing of ankle bracelets to three months. He says: “From our point of view, that’s too short.”

In the Spanish model, no fixed prohibition zones, such as the place of residence or the workplace, are monitored. Instead, it’s about keeping an eye on the distance between the perpetrator and the victim. The victim carries a GPS unit with him. If the perpetrator is nearby with the ankle bracelet – intentionally or unintentionally – an alarm will be triggered to the police. At the same time, the victim receives a warning.