Die Kriminalisierung von Gewaltdarstellungen nach § 131 StGB

Can and should the depiction of extreme violence in media be legally prohibited? This frequently asked question is approached in a new way in this work, which evaluates the legal permissibility of the ban on depictions of violence in § 131 of the German Criminal Code based on its own empirical research. It first examines the actual effectiveness of § 131 StGB. In this context, the author analyzes the statements of experts from the criminal police and public prosecution and conducts a literature review of numerous studies from current media effects research. The results enable a well-founded constitutional classification of § 131 StGB and allow conclusions to be drawn regarding the criminological purpose of the norm.