It is a crime that leads into the deepest depths of the human being. Children are sexually assaulted in order to shoot videos for the needs of an obnoxious community by an IT technician who, according to the court, abuses their own foster son. 14 years imprisonment plus preventive detention is the verdict against the main perpetrator; he will stay in prison for decades – if he ever gets out.
The fact that the Münster Regional Court has now imposed heavy fines is the correct answer. Yet such a judgment cannot rebuild the world within us that is collapsing as a result of such crimes. Münster, Bergisch Gladbach, Lügde – the city names have become ciphers for networks of offenders who have acted with unbelievable coldness and cruelty. The rage, the anger, the helplessness that such incidents trigger: You have no measure that can be expressed in years of prison.
Technically upgraded criminal networks
But what are the conclusions to be drawn from this? Harsher penalties? As unbelievable as such crimes are: The judgment of Munster would be an opportunity to tell the truth about punishment. Because 14 years plus preventive detention, that is the upper limit of what is possible under the rule of law. The screw of punishments cannot be tightened any further against helpers and consumers. Anyone who has even one picture of child pornography on their hard drive has recently had to expect one year in prison – the lower limit.
In any case, it is not the size of the sentence that scares off potential perpetrators, but the likelihood of being discovered. Upgraded networks of offenders like in Münster can therefore only be reached with police investigative capacities that operate technically on an equal footing. In North Rhine-Westphalia, but also in other countries, the departments responsible for cybercrime have made considerable progress in recent years. But let’s not kid ourselves: it will remain an eternal race against crime. The perpetrators from Münster went to work with highly professional encryption technology.
But the state has to fulfill its central task elsewhere. Because criminal judges and police officers only come into play when the children have already passed their ordeal. However, the state must stretch out its feelers in order to detect abuse and violence early on and to intervene in good time. The main defendant from Münster had long been known to the authorities. He hid behind a wall of deception and manipulation.
Of course, the youth welfare offices need more staff
It is certainly necessary to better equip youth welfare offices, which often operate on the front line with too few staff. Detectors for cases of abuse can also be the family courts. But only if the judges have the necessary sensorium for social and human problem cases. To do this, they need psychological and communicative skills – a finding that, of course, has only now and therefore been reflected in the Federal Law Gazette much too late.
And finally, it is about the rights of the children themselves. The families have often already been in contact with authorities and courts. There is a chance there of discovering signs of abuse in the children themselves. To do this, they must be heard personally in family court proceedings and accompanied by an independent legal advisor. Recently, these rights were upgraded in law, which was long overdue. Now they have to become a matter of course in everyday judicial practice. For the children of Münster, however, it comes too late.