Child pornography within the meaning of § 184 b of the German Criminal Code (StGB) is the "photorealistic depiction" of the sexual abuse of a person under the age of 14 (child). This means that there is a real act. A child is actually - often seriously - sexually abused (Sections 176 and 176a StGB). Perpetrators or those involved in the crime photograph or film the abuse.
Children can never consent to such acts, as perpetrators often claim for their own protection.
All 47 district police authorities in the state have specially trained police officers who evaluate child pornography material on a daily basis. The district police authorities are supported in this by the Central Evaluation and Collection Center for Child Pornography (ZASt) at the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia. In particular, it coordinates inter-agency procedures, manages the exchange of data with the Federal Criminal Police Office and supports international investigations. When dealing with the increasingly extensive investigation procedures, the further development of automated evaluation procedures is just as important as the development of evaluation systems based on "artificial intelligence".
Gigantic amounts of data through the internet
Possession of child pornography has been a criminal offense in Germany since 1993. Since then, technology has developed rapidly. From the mid-1990s, more and more people used the internet and its constantly growing possibilities: Transmission speeds increased, storage capacities grew ever larger. This made it possible to exchange and trade images of abuse worldwide. The images of victims often remain permanently available.
Investigations in this area of crime have increased rapidly since then, as have the quantities of data seized.
Are images and videos known or unknown? Have the victims and perpetrators already been identified? Central collections at national and international level are needed to answer these questions. Comparing the gigantic amounts of data is only possible with technical comparison programs that are constantly being further developed.
These developments still make it difficult to evaluate the seized data carriers as systematically, intensively and completely as is necessary from a technical perspective. However, this is absolutely necessary in order to establish the abuse by the accused with certainty as evidence and to identify further victims and perpetrators of previously unknown - possibly ongoing - sexual abuse.In 2018, the police registered 1,412 cases in NRW for the offense of "distribution, acquisition and possession of child pornography" in accordance with Section 184 b StGB. In 2017, the figure was 1,250 cases. This corresponds to an increase of 12.6 percent. The internet plays a prominent role in this offense area: the internet was the means of crime in 1,064 cases (78.7%). 92.11% of all crimes were solved by the police.
The Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) estimates that the number of unreported cases of sexual abuse of children and young people is eight times higher than the number of crimes known to the judiciary. The BMJV also assumes a high level of unreported child pornography offenses.
The situation report "Youth crime and youth endangerment in NRW" from the NRW State Office of Criminal Investigation provides an overview of the facts and figures on cases registered by the police as well as victims and suspects of child sexual abuse.
The police crime statistics (PKS) can be found here.
