Carmen Wegge, an SPD legal expert, has urged the justice ministers of the German states to revise the law curriculum and incorporate sexual criminal law. “Studying law is the right starting point to improve victim protection and achieve fairer justice” the chairwoman of the SPD Women’s Association told the magazine Focus. “Yet sexual criminal law is not currently part of the university curriculum”.
Wegge cautions that this omission deepens the widespread lack of understanding of the dynamics of sexualised violence. She stresses that anyone who will later work in prosecution, courts, or as a defence lawyer must confront this knowledge gap. The same applies to the Istanbul Convention, which she argues should become compulsory by the time students sit their second state exam. “I would welcome it if the next federal justice minister conference dealt specifically with this issue” she added.