Sexual violence: proposal for harsher punishment for gang rape

Berlin. Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) is pushing ahead with the planned tightening of sexual criminal law.

A draft published by her ministry stipulates that sexual harassment should be punished even if physical contact does not occur. In the future, gang rape should be punished more harshly than before.

“Sexual harassment and sexualized violence are a massive problem and are part of everyday life for too many women,” says Hubig. It is necessary to take decisive action against this - including through criminal law.

The draft provides for a minimum sentence of five years for rape if the act causes pregnancy. The minimum sentence for gang rape is to be increased from two to five years.

In the future, a uniform statute of limitations of 20 years will apply to rape and sexual assaults committed together. According to current law - depending on the case scenario - it may only be five years. The planned extension also has to do with crimes in which the victim was drugged with chemical substances and therefore only reports the crime much later, for example after video material has emerged.

“It must not be the case that such serious crimes go unpunished just because the person affected only finds out years later what was done to them,” Hubig told the Editorial Network Germany (RND).

The Gisèle Pelicot case has had a major impact on the debate about sexual violence in Europe. Her former husband, Dominique Pelicot, repeatedly drugged her for almost ten years and offered men to rape on the Internet. The Avignon regional court sentenced him to 20 years in prison in December 2024. All 51 co-defendants were found guilty, with sentences ranging from three to 15 years. The draft now presented also refers to a case from Germany in which a man was accused of having carried out sexual acts on his wife, who was incapable of expressing her will, in a total of 67 cases.

According to the draft, anyone who harasses another person through a sexually specific statement or gesture will in future be liable to prosecution if the statement or gesture is likely to “intimidate or harass the person in question”. Until now, physical contact has been necessary for an act to be classified as sexual harassment. That should change.

In certain cases, punishment as an insult or coercion is already an option. From the ministry's point of view, however, the new criminal offense creates more clarity here. At the same time, the draft emphasizes that not every sexually specific statement or gesture should be sanctioned, but rather that it must be “significant”. It is important to Hubig to make it clear that there are no plans to punish failed compliments.

The federal states and associations now have until the end of November to comment on the draft. The protection of women - they are particularly often victims of sexual violence and are also more affected by violence by ex-partners - has been a concern for Hubig since the beginning of her term in office. The possibility of electronic residence monitoring for violent ex-partners has already been decided. The family courts can require perpetrators to wear an ankle bracelet in order to enforce a ban on approaching them. The victim is warned when approaching and a tip is also sent to the police.