The article examines the causes, process and results of the recent serious reform of the criminal legislation of the Federal Republic of Germany on responsibility for crimes against sexual self-determination (the thirteenth section of the German Criminal Code). The focus is on the Forty-ninth Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code in connection with the implementation of the Pan-European Provisions of January 21, 2015 (BGBl. 2015 I S. 10) and the Fiftieth Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code in connection with the strengthening of the Protection of human rights to Sexual self-determination of November 4, 2016 (BGBl. 2016 I S. 2460). Other acts (for example, the Sixtieth Law, which entailed the reformulation of certain provisions of the thirteenth section) are not considered, since they do not affect the specifics of criminal liability. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time in Russian scientific periodicals, the main parameters and consequences of the recent reform of criminal legislation on responsibility for sexual crimes in Germany have been outlined. Not only the decision-making process is demonstrated, but also their main causes are characterised. It is established that the main result of the reform was the transformation of the norms of the law, which now provide for liability within one paragraph (article) for violent acts of a sexual nature and for sexual harassment, which should be considered as sexual acts without the use of violence, any threats and without using the helpless state of the victim, committed contrary to the recognisable or unrecognisable will of the latter.
Transformation of German criminal legislation on responsibility for sexual crimes