Sex offence cases. Women in the justice gap

On September 2nd, 2010, the bff conference “Sex Offence Cases – Women in the Justice Gap” took part in Berlin’s Red City Hall. More than 200 participants – among them experts from the police and judiciary as well as expert counsellors – came from all over Germany and from Austria and Switzerland.

The participants took great interest in the excellent contributions made by the speakers and the subsequent enthralling panel discussion between representatives of various professions. The breaks of the event were used for further talks and for networking.

Current national and international figures on the subject of criminal prosecution in rape cases were presented. In addition, the alarmingly high estimated number of unreported cases, i.e. the number of rape cases not reported to the police, was brought to light. The high attrition rate of reported cases on their way towards court hearings, and the effect of so-called rape myths were highlighted. In addition, the participants received clear information about the complex relation between experienced traumatisations and the requirements in penal proceedings. In another contribution from the sociopolitical perspective, the topic was examined with the focus on “sense of guilt and sexual violence”.

It was good to see the great interest by the media – even though the “Kachelmann” case (Translator’s Note: famous German TV weatherman who was charged with raping his former girlfriend) was only mentioned as an aside.

Documentation of the conference

Documentary reports were compiled on the bff conference in 2010. We included the many interesting presentations and also a summary of the panel discussion.

This documentation shall be made available to all those interested in the topic and may be used by them for their work if wished. The documentation is available for download in German language.