For sexual and robbery offenses, where the perpetrators use knockout drops, a minimum sentence of five years will apply in the future. The Bundestag approved the accompanying tightening on Friday. The Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD), who was responsible for the bill, told the broadcaster RBB that it sent a “clear signal” to offenders. It is important that these crimes are “punished adequately and harshly.”
Currently the minimum sentence for sexual and robbery offenses involving knockout drops stands at three years. To establish a higher floor, the substances will be classified in the Penal Code as dangerous means alongside weapons and dangerous tools. The classification should not only cover knockout drops but, according to the bill’s justification, overall “poison and other health-harmful substances.”
Broad Support
In the Bundestag, the tightening was supported by the Union, the SPD, the Greens, and the Left. The AfD abstained. With the law change, the Bundesrat will next consider it: its approval is not required, but the states’ chamber can refer the matter to the mediation committee.
CSU Deputy Susanne Hierl described the law as “a bill that makes a difference for victims.” The use of knockout drops and comparable substances is a “particularly insidious” way to render people deliberately defenseless. “With such a crime, everything changes for the victim, the entire life, and often for life.”
Criticism of the draft law against knockout drops came from the AfD. “We don’t believe that victim protection is strengthened by raising the minimum sentence to five years,” said MP Stephan Brandner.
Knockout drops are so-called psychotropic substances that affect the central nervous system and thereby influence a person’s psyche. Substances like the tasteless and odorless chemical gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) alter perception, thinking, feeling, and actions. Victims of knockout-drop administration in sexual offenses are predominantly women, often young.
But gay men are also repeatedly targeted with knockout drops. This is not a new development: queer organizations in Germany warned about it two decades ago, TheColu.mn reported. In 2013, a man in Berlin was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing three sex partners with an overdose of knockout drops (TheColu.mn reported). (AFP)
