AStA
Lack of Protection Against Digital Violence: Why Our Criminal Law and Law School Curricula Need an Update
8 May 2026
The Collien Fernandes case exposes a systemic weakness in Germany. The fact that a defendant is actively pushing for German courts to rule on allegations of sexual violence instead of the Spanish judiciary is a clear warning sign.1 We, as the AStA and FSR Jura, would like to address the gaps in substantive law and the shortcomings in legal education, and make the following demands:
The key points of criticism:
1. The protection gap regarding deepfakes and AI-generated content: Current sexual criminal law is largely an analog law. When women’s bodies are pornographically manipulated using AI (deepfakes) today, traditional legal provisions often fall short. Section 201a of the German Criminal Code (StGB) primarily protects the image itself, but does little to address the psychological and social harm caused by deceptively realistic, generated content. The fact that such acts are often classified merely as defamation (Section 185 StGB) downplays the core of the injustice. It is an attack on sexual integrity, not merely an insult to one’s honor.
2. Institutional failure and lack of evidence: In practice, proceedings against digital violence often fail due to a lack of resources. Victims are often left to fend for themselves against specialized platforms and anonymous structures. The dismissal of a case due to lack of public interest feels like an additional insult to the victims. There is a lack of specialized prosecutors’ offices and technical expertise to secure international chains of evidence quickly enough.
3. The comparison with Spain: While Spain, through the “Only Yes Means Yes” law (Solo sí es sí), focuses on explicit consent and maintains specialized courts for violence against women, Germany is already lagging behind in procedural support. The protracted international legal assistance often delays justice until the psychological strain becomes unbearable for those affected.
4. The planned Protection Against Violence Act: While the new Digital Protection Against Violence Act is an attempt by the federal government to finally address deepfakes, many questions remain unanswered.2 As long as the definition of violence in criminal law is interpreted so restrictively and the necessary positions for investigative authorities are not created, any reform remains purely symbolic politics.
Why Sexual Criminal Law Belongs at the Center of Legal Education
It is no coincidence that victims in Germany often find themselves facing closed doors. The problem begins in the lecture halls. While we spend hundreds of hours during our studies cramming property law or the intricacies of the law of unjust enrichment, sexual criminal law is virtually absent from our education. Anyone studying law in Hamburg can pass the state exam with top marks without ever having attended a single lecture on the dynamics of sexualized violence.
1. The “gap” in the curriculum is a political failure: Current debates in the Bundestag show how entrenched the positions are: While left-wing politicians like Carmen Wegge (SPD) are calling for sexual criminal law to finally be included as required material in the curriculum, the Union continues to reject this. The argument: The curriculum is already too full.3
For us, this is a matter of priorities. If the justice system can no longer keep up with rising numbers of sexual offenses and new phenomena like deepfakes, legal education must not remain stuck in the 20th century. A legal system that relegates the protection of physical integrity to a “specialized subject” loses its moral compass.
2. Application without context: The danger of “myth-based jurisprudence”: Law school trains us in the “tools of the trade.” We are taught to apply real-life situations to cold legal provisions. But in the area of sexual violence, this leads to catastrophic misjudgments without background knowledge.
Anyone who is unaware of the psychological background of tonic immobility (the state of shock in which victims are unable to defend themselves) will misinterpret the elements of the offense under Section 177 of the German Criminal Code (StGB). Myths still haunt the minds of many legal professionals—such as the notion that a victim must physically resist for an offense to be “credible.” If these prejudices are not scientifically deconstructed during our studies, we will carry them into the courtroom later as judges and prosecutors.
3. Hamburg as a Pioneer? Our Demands for Our Law School: The University of Hamburg likes to adorn itself with prestigious projects, such as its status as a Center of Excellence. Yet there is still much room for improvement when it comes to victim protection and teaching violence awareness.
We therefore demand:
- Sexual criminal law must not be a niche topic. It must become part of the core criminal law curriculum.
- Interdisciplinary teaching: We need courses that do not merely go through the Criminal Code by rote, but also integrate knowledge from psychology and sociology. Only those who understand how power dynamics and trauma work can render just judgments.
- Critique of case law: We demand teaching that does not merely have students memorize court rulings, but has the courage to critically question perpetrator-friendly tendencies in current case law.
The Collien Fernandes case shows that the law is not a static entity and must never be one. The law must evolve as society and its possibilities change. We do not want to be a generation of lawyers who are technically and systematically trained but ignore the reality of violence. Reforming legal education is not a “nice-to-have,” but a prerequisite for ensuring that the protection of sexual self-determination in Germany is finally more than just lip service on the paper of the Istanbul Convention.4
You can find additional information and updates at @feministlawclinic
- Mila Danlowski (AStA UHH) & Alina Zastrow (FSR Jura)
[1] https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/collien-fernandes-interview-ulmen-100.html
[2] https://www.djb.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/detail/pm26-14
[4] https://unwomen.de/die-istanbul-konvention/