10-19-2010 Germany:
BERLIN - A GERMAN television show that attempts to unmask paedophiles using a young actress as bait came under attack on Tuesday after a suspect vanished.
The programme called Scene of the Crime: Internet - Protecting Our Children and hosted by a high-profile political wife is based on a similar US show, To Catch A Predator, that went off air after the suicide of a suspected molester in Texas in 2007.
On the show, a young woman pretending to be a minor seeks out potential child abusers in Internet chat rooms. When a meeting is arranged, a girl playing a 13-year-old goes along, with the hidden cameras rolling.
The suspects, whose images are blurred and voices distorted when they are broadcast, are subsequently confronted by a journalist playing the mother of the young 'victim'. Then the case is handed over to the police.
An alleged abuser, a 61-year-old man who works with children, was identified by his employers after an episode shown eight days ago and has since disappeared without a trace.
One of the presenters of the programme on the RTL2 channel is the aristocratic Stephanie zu Guttenberg, wife of Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who is one of the rising stars in Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet. ..Source.. by The Straights-Times
Showing posts with label /Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label /Germany. Show all posts
October 19, 2010
Paedophile-hunting show under fire
January 13, 2010
German high court rules against detention of sex offender
Lets see, does the U.S. Supreme court need a few justices from Germany? Germany considers "preventative detention" following a prison sentence, which is likened to "civil commitment" just heard by our high court, unconstitutional!1-13-2010 Germany:
A German high court has ruled against putting a released sex offender in preventive detention, deciding instead to place him under 24-hour-surveillance. German police and the man's local community are outraged.
A German man convicted of being a dangerous sex offender will remain out of police custody following a decision by the German Federal Court of Justice. The court found that he could not be put in preventive detention after he'd served over 20 years for his offences.
The 58-year-old from the western German town of Heinsberg was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in 1985 for raping a young girl. After his release, the man raped two more girls and was sentenced in 1995 to another 14 years behind bars.
The 1995 sentenced contained no measures for keeping the man, known as Karl D., in preventive custody after completion of the term. The Karlsruhe court said the man could not be placed in preventive custody because that had not been part of the initial sentence, so that such a measure would be "blatantly retrospective punishment."
The federal court ruling follows a state court ruling in February of last year in which a Bavarian court also found no grounds to keep Karl D. in police custody, despite his being declared "dangerous" by court-appointed evaluators.
Police, local community outraged over current law
Since being released less than a year ago, the man has been living in Heinsberg with his brother, under constant police surveillance.
Rainer Wendt, head of the German Police Union, has strongly criticized the high court ruling, calling for lawmakers to change current legislation regarding retrospective preventive detention.
Wendt said it was no longer possible to keep the man under 24-hour surveillance - an undertaking which he said was costing the authorities around 100,000 euros per month.
He added that surveillance was no guarantee that Karl D. would be prevented from repeating his offenses.
The mayor of Heinsberg, Wolfgang Dieder, called on citizens to respond calmly to the Karlsruhe ruling.
He said life with Karl D. would be a "burden" and that he "regretted" the federal court ruling.
Though citizens would have to accept and live with the situation, Dieder said that people in Heinsberg would "have to remain on alert." ..Source.. Michael Lawton
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