After the Freudenberg case
Buschmann rejects lowering the age of criminal responsibility
3/19/2023 8:51 am
Twelve-year-old Luise is said to have been killed by her peers. This sparks a debate about lowering the age of criminal responsibility. “Even 12 and 13-year-olds know that you’re not allowed to kill,” says a CDU politician. Minister of Justice Buschmann rejects the proposal.
In the debate about a possible lowering of the age of criminal responsibility as a result of the killing of twelve-year-old Luise by two girls who are believed to be almost the same age, Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann expressed reservations. “Such serious crimes” could not “remain without consequences,” said Buschmann of “Bild am Sonntag”. But “every debate about adjustments to criminal law” should be conducted with a “cool head”.
Even if children under the age of 14 are not criminally prosecuted in Germany, the legal system “already has the means to react to serious acts of violence by children under the age of 14,” said the Minister of Justice.
Buschmann referred to the closed accommodation in homes or in psychiatry. Scientific findings would show that children need different treatment than adolescents or adults, Buschmann affirmed.
Case Luise triggers discussion
Twelve-year-old Luise from Freudenberg in North Rhine-Westphalia was reported missing on Saturday a week ago, and her body was discovered on Sunday in an impassable forest area just behind the Rhineland-Palatinate state border. Investigators said on Monday that the 12-year-old had fallen victim to a violent crime. A day later, investigators announced that a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old were suspects.
Union politicians then brought a reduction in the age of criminal responsibility into play. Your legal policy group spokesman Günter Krings repeated his demand to “BamS”: “Even 12 and 13-year-olds know that you are not allowed to kill. We must therefore lead the debate about lowering the age of criminal responsibility.”