The German Parliament reportedly passed a bill Thursday downgrading the possession of child sexual abuse materials from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Possession and acquisition of child pornography will now receive “a minimum sentence of three months imprisonment in the future, and distribution with a minimum sentence of six months imprisonment,” the German Parliament, the Bundestag, writes in a press release issued Wednesday. It states that the possession and acquisition of child pornography will in the future be “classified as misdemeanors and not as crimes.” The bill received a majority of votes in the Parliament Thursday night, Reduxx reports.
The offense was reportedly classified as a felony in a 2021 reform with a minimum one-year sentence for the offense. The maximum penalties introduced in 2021 will be retained, parliament states.
🚨Germany’s Parliament has officially voted to decriminalize the possession of child pornography.
The move is being celebrated by a “pedophile rights” activist group which has also called for the age of consent to be dropped to 12.https://t.co/JtUNA4wgZg
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) May 21, 2024
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) opposed the bill, a press release reads. “The distribution, possession and acquisition of child pornography must … remain classified as crimes. Even if the increase in the penalty range … has led to practical problems in certain cases, a blanket reduction in the penalty range is the wrong solution. A change should be limited tot he problem cases and solve them effectively. Scientific findings show that if the penalty framework shifts downwards, the penalties imposed in practice also tend to be lower,” the CDU writes.
Parliament cites the reasoning presented by the bill’s draft that “parents and teachers of older children or adolescents, who have found child pornography material on them [the children] and forwarded it to other parents” were disproportionally punished by the 2021 reforms in a March press release. (RELATED: ‘Most Prolific Creator’ Of Child Porn Involving Over 100 Children Convicted, Authorities Say)
The German pro-pedophile activist group Krumme-13, or K13, praised the bill in a May 17 blog post written by Dieter Gieseking. “The German Bundestag decided on Thursday night with a majority of votes … to withdraw the unconstitutional tightening of punishments … This will turn child porn from a crime back into a misdemeanor, Gieseking writes.
“No politician in all factions apologized to the thousands upon thousands of those affected who fell victim” to the 2021 law, Gieseking continues. He has been charged repeatedly with alleged possession of child pornography and founded K13, Reduxx notes. (RELATED: AI-Generated Child Pornography Charges Land Convicted Connecticut Child Sex Offender Back In Court)
The German federal government in its draft bill “cites feedback and demands … ‘that a reaction appropriate to the crime and guilt'” under the 2021 law was “‘no longer guaranteed in every individual case.'” The Conference of Justice Ministers of the Länder is included in demanding reform to the 2021 law, the Parliament statement notes.
The bill does not specify legal exceptions to specific scenarios and instead downgrades child pornography possession as a crime generally, Reduxx reports.
