Germany plans to treat the use of date rape drugs like the use of weapons in prosecutions as part of measures to ensure justice for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
“We classify date rape drugs, which are increasingly used as a widespread tool in crimes, as weapons.
This creates the basis for significantly stricter prosecutions,” Alexander Dobrindt, the interior minister, said on Friday.
A parliamentary debate over a bill calling for a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence for the use of date rape drugs in sexual assaults was postponed last month.
Police last year registered a record high of almost 266,000 domestic violence victims, a 3.8% increase on the previous year.
However, there were a high number of unreported cases, the head of the federal criminal police office, Holger Münch, said.
The German government this week approved a draft law allowing the use of electronic ankle monitors to track perpetrators of domestic violence. »