Overview
- Hamburg has tabled three formal proposals for the JuMiKo spring meeting on 11–12 June in Hamburg that would replace the current 'Nein heißt Nein' standard with a consent‑based 'Nur Ja heißt Ja' test, change limitation rules, and expand criminal duties to report planned serious sexual crimes.
- The 'Nur Ja heißt Ja' model would make a voluntary, clearly given consent the central element of criminal liability rather than proof of an opposing will, targeting cases where victims cannot show resistance.
- Officials argue the 2016 reform left prosecutorial gaps by reclassifying some acts as lesser offences with shorter limitation periods, a problem illustrated by a 2025 Hamburg case where 65 of 67 allegations were dropped as time‑barred despite evidence.
- One proposal would lengthen or recalibrate statutes of limitation by tying limits to harsher maximum penalties or creating a new offence for exploiting victims' incapacity, and another would add planned severe sexual crimes to the duty‑to‑report list in §138 StGB.
- JuMiKo is a political, non‑binding forum; a proposal needs at least nine of 16 states to approve it before the conference asks the Bundesjustizministerium and Bundestag to draft binding federal law changes, a step that could affect future prosecutions and survivor access to justice.