Die Kriminalisierung von Gewaltdarstellungen nach § 131 StGB

Can and should the depiction of extreme violence in the media be legally prohibited? This paper addresses this frequently asked question in a new way by evaluating the legal admissibility of the ban of depiction of violence in § 131 StGB on the basis of empirical research. Therefore, it examines the actual effectiveness of § 131 StGB. Within this framework, the author analyses the information provided by 17 experts from the criminal investigation department and the public prosecutor’s office and, in a literature review, considers 35 studies of the current media impact research. The results enable a well-founded constitutional estimation of § 131 StGB and allow conclusions to be drawn about the criminal policy expediency.