Federal situation report - More cases of child abuse - shedding light on the dark field
The number of reported cases of child and adolescent sexual abuse has increased in the past year. However, this finding alone is not alarming, as stated in the Federal Situation Report on Sexual Crimes to the Detriment of Children and Adolescents 2023.
According to this report, the police became aware of 16,375 cases last year where children were sexually abused - an increase of 5.5 percent compared to the previous year. In the same period, 1,200 cases were recorded where adolescents were sexually abused. The number of cases involving depictions of child sexual abuse increased by 7.4 percent to approximately 45,000 cases.
Many cases are not included in the statistics
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) notes that the number of uncovered cases of child abuse is closely related to police control activities and reporting behavior. As stated in the Federal Situation Report, "Given this, it is likely that, due to increased police activity in the field in recent years, there has been a clarification of the dark field."
The BKA also points out that many cases, in which potential crime scenes could not be identified in Germany based on tips, especially from the US, are not included in the statistics. The reason for failed investigations in such cases is the suspension of mandatory data retention of telecommunications traffic data in Germany - specifically IP addresses.
Images and videos of sexually abused children and adolescents are shared thousands of times on the internet.
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) and the BKA have been advocating for a new legally compliant regulation for the storage of traffic and location data of telecommunications for some time. They criticize that some providers no longer store data, making it impossible to obtain any information for investigations.
In April, Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) then agreed on the Quick-Freeze procedure. According to this procedure, data is only stored when there is a significant suspicion of a criminal offense. The decision-making process within the Federal Government on this matter is still ongoing. Since 2017, the old regulation for data retention has not been used due to legal uncertainties.
If you suspect a case of child sexual abuse, please contact the child protection hotline: 0800 1110 - every day, around the clock.
- The increase in reported cases of child and adolescent sexual abuse in the past year was discussed in the Federal Situation Report on Sexual Crimes to the Detriment of Children and Adolescents 2023, which was presented in Wiesbaden.
- The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in Germany attributed the rise in reported cases to increased police activity and reporting behavior, suggesting a clarification of the "dark field" in recent years.
- However, many cases of child abuse are not included in the statistics due to failed investigations, particularly in cases where potential crime scenes could not be identified in Germany based on tips, especially from the US, due to the suspension of mandatory data retention on telecommunications traffic data.
- Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) and the BKA have advocated for a new regulation for storing traffic and location data of telecommunications to aid investigations, criticizing that some providers no longer store data.
- In response, Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) agreed on the Quick-Freeze procedure, which allows data to be stored only when there is a significant suspicion of a criminal offense, aiming to improve investigations involving child abuse in Germany.
