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Children caught kissing face jail [in Germany]
The Scotsman ^ | Dec 12 2007 | ALLAN HALL

Posted on 12/11/2007 7:46:15 PM PST by camerakid400

GERMANY is poised to bring in a draconian law tomorrow that will effectively outlaw kissing and cuddling between children under 17 in public places.

While experts acknowledge that the bill has good intentions, they fear it will deprive teens of a sexual rite of passage, through flirting and experimentation.

Broadly speaking, the law is aimed at the 14-17 age group, but some subclauses have far-reaching consequences. Parents who put a picture of their naked youngster in a bath or a paddling pool on the internet, for example, will leave themselves open to charges of disseminating child pornography.

But it is the attempt to regulate - in essence - the raging hormones of teenagers that strike many as bizarre and unworkable. Under the law, to go before the Bundestag tomorrow, a teenage boy up to the age of 17 who is caught "fondling or stroking the chest" of someone younger will be liable to prosecution - regardless of consent.

If he does it in a cinema and the girl complains, he will be deemed to have been guilty of planning the "assault" by paying for the cinema ticket to commit the act - crime aforethought.

Critics say Germany has gone more than two steps beyond European Union and United Nations' guidelines in introducing the law, claiming that it is copied from the United States. A 15-year-old girl in Pittsburgh faces a long jail term on a charge of distributing child pornography after sending nude pictures of herself over the internet to a friend.

"This is not something Germany should be copying," said Jürgen Grünewald, a child welfare consultant. "It seems pompous, heavy-handed and totally unworkable."

Lawyers see a minefield ahead: false claims from girls who were rebuffed by the school hunk at a disco or boys spurned by the class vamp. But Brigitte Zypries, the justice minister, said the younger generation needed to be protected as much from itself as from the bogeymen that parents insist lurk at every teenage party.

At present, the law stipulates that sexual abuse among minors occurs when the perpetrator is 18 and the victim is at least two years younger. This age disparity is being done away with under the new legislation. Wolfgang Neskovic, of the Left Party, said: "In a ridiculous way, we are trying to regulate the hormones and lifestyle of teenagers and criminalise that which has gone on since time immemorial."

Under the new law a 15-year-old who posts a picture of herself in a bikini on the internet would be guilty of disseminating a pornographic photograph. She could be punished by law - as would anyone who downloaded it, for whatever purpose.

Professional artists and writers would face up to three months in jail if they make "realistic descriptions of sex among young people" in magazines, films, books, newspapers or on the internet.

Andreas Hill, a Hamburg sex therapist, warned that the bill - which appears likely to be passed by the coalition right-left government in Germany - might release a "wave of useless procedures for an already overstretched police force to deal with, while the really relevant crimes in society go unsolved".


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: germany; willnothappen
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1 posted on 12/11/2007 7:46:16 PM PST by camerakid400
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To: camerakid400
Parents who put a picture of their naked youngster in a bath or a paddling pool on the internet, for example, will leave themselves open to charges of disseminating child pornography.

The fact alone that there are people out there that would get off on this sort of thing is reason enough for me to not post such pictures.

2 posted on 12/11/2007 7:48:40 PM PST by ECM (Government is a make-work program for lawyers.)
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To: camerakid400

Insanity.


3 posted on 12/11/2007 7:51:51 PM PST by sourcery (If Hillary is the next President, she may also be the last.)
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To: camerakid400
effectively outlaw kissing and cuddling between children under 17 in public places.

Good! I'm sick of all the PDA (Public Display of Affection).

Lock 'em up!

.

4 posted on 12/11/2007 7:58:15 PM PST by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: camerakid400

The European Human Rights Commission will hear of this.

And I can’t wait for the Krauts to start busting the hosts of art shows.


6 posted on 12/11/2007 8:26:24 PM PST by Thud
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To: camerakid400
"Professional artists and writers would face up to three months in jail if they make "realistic descriptions of sex among young people" in magazines, films, books, newspapers or on the internet."

So much for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

7 posted on 12/11/2007 8:29:00 PM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: camerakid400
While experts acknowledge that the bill has good intentions, they fear it will deprive teens of a sexual rite of passage, through flirting and experimentation.

Apparently, said 'experts' missed the two words, "public places".

8 posted on 12/11/2007 8:34:24 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Res firma mitescere nescit)
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To: camerakid400
While experts acknowledge that the bill has good intentions....

There's the problem right there...so-called "experts" and so-called "good intentions." More mischief, and downright evil, has been created by the "good intentions" of the "There oughta be a law!" crowd than ever was done by individual tyrants (who often simply piggy-back on the emotions stirred by the self-described do-gooders). Save us all from "good intentions," as they almost invariably lead to bad results.

9 posted on 12/11/2007 8:45:54 PM PST by TrueKnightGalahad (When you're racing...it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting.)
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To: camerakid400

Can we start hanging people who come up with this idiotic stuff yet?????? I have a rope. Somebody just needs to find a good tree.


10 posted on 12/11/2007 9:34:55 PM PST by rednesss (Fred Thompson - 2008)
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To: camerakid400

I was staioned in Germany in the lat 1970’s. Kissing was one of the more respectable things they did in public.


11 posted on 12/11/2007 9:53:23 PM PST by truemiester (If the U.S. should fail, a veil of darkness will come over the Earth for a thousand years)
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To: camerakid400

They can still drink beer.


12 posted on 12/11/2007 10:31:03 PM PST by Duck Fan
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To: camerakid400

I simply do not believe that the Germans would be so impractical as to pass a law outlawing public kissing between 15-year-olds. Young people that age like to kiss each other and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.


13 posted on 12/11/2007 11:11:30 PM PST by rogue yam
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To: camerakid400

I have to doubt the veracity of the article. The writer should go to the Englischer Garten in Munich or any public Schwimmbad on a sunny summer day. There is public nudity all over the place.


14 posted on 12/12/2007 12:05:48 AM PST by Sarajevo (You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.)
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To: Sarajevo

This law has not the chance of a snow ball in a deep frying pan...

It’s allready been toppled.


15 posted on 12/12/2007 1:09:17 AM PST by Rummenigge (there's people willing to blow out the light because it casts a shadow)
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To: camerakid400

I must say I am astonished by this article. I haven’t seen it myself yet, but I do understand that public nudity is acceptable here in Germany are certain types of locations, such as beaches and parks. Pornograghy is much more acceptable here than the U.S. Heck, you’re allowed to urinate in public, as long as you are facing away from everyone else. This is something I wold expect to see in an Islamic country. I would sooner expect to see it in the U.S. than Europe. Europe is probably the world leader in public sexual/sensual expression.


16 posted on 12/12/2007 3:25:30 AM PST by tlj18 (Keep your eye on China, they are our #1 enemy....)
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To: tlj18
"Heck, you’re allowed to urinate in public, as long as you are facing away from everyone else."

When you gotta go, you gotta go. No reason to criminalize it.

17 posted on 12/12/2007 10:11:06 AM PST by rednesss (Fred Thompson - 2008)
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To: rednesss

It’s illegal in the UK...


18 posted on 12/12/2007 1:19:10 PM PST by tlj18 (Keep your eye on China, they are our #1 enemy....)
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To: camerakid400
...might release a "wave of useless procedures for an already overstretched police force to deal with, while the really relevant crimes in society go unsolved".

Isn't this the goal of the EU in general?

19 posted on 12/12/2007 1:22:28 PM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: camerakid400

Germany’s first step to Islam


20 posted on 12/12/2007 1:36:19 PM PST by Wiz
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