Federal popular initiative "For the non-limitation of pornographic crimes against children"
The federal popular initiative “For the non-statute of limitations for pornographic crimes against children” is a popular initiative in accordance with Article 139 of the Swiss Federal Constitution . It came to a vote on November 30, 2008 and was approved by the people and the cantons. It was submitted by the initiative committee and association Marche Blanche in March 2006 with 119,375 valid signatures from Swiss voters. It demanded that criminal prosecution and punishment for sexual and pornographic offenses against children before puberty should not be subject to a statute of limitations . On the basis of this initiative, Parliament decided to amend the Swiss Criminal Code , which implemented the initiative and came into force on January 1, 2013.
Initiative text
The initiative calls for the introduction of Article 123b into the Swiss Federal Constitution with the following content:
Art. 123b (new) No statute of limitations for criminal prosecution and punishment in the case of sexual and pornographic offenses against children before puberty
- The prosecution of sexual or pornographic offenses against children before puberty and the penalty for such offenses are not subject to a statute of limitations.
Voting result
The popular initiative came to a vote on November 30, 2008.
Preliminary official final result:
| Canton | Yes (%) | No (%) | Participation |
|---|---|---|---|
 Aargau
|
94,662 (54.4%) | 79,285 (45.6%) | 45.7% |
 Appenzell Ausserrhoden
|
9,344 (51.9%) | 8,658 (48.1%) | 48.8% |
 Appenzell Innerrhoden
|
1,976 (46.8%) | 2,245 (53.2%) | 39.4% |
 Basel-Country
|
46,793 (54.0%) | 39,803 (46.0%) | 47.5% |
 Basel city
|
31,251 (54.5%) | 26,095 (45.5%) | 51.1% |
 Bern
|
145,299 (48.7%) | 152,981 (51.3%) | 42.7% |
 Freiburg
|
45,773 (55.0%) | 37,428 (45.0%) | 48.1% |
 Geneva
|
42,009 (42.9%) | 55,857 (57.1%) | 43.3% |
 Glarus
|
5,539 (54.4%) | 4,642 (45.6%) | 40.4% |
 Grisons
|
31,335 (53.6%) | 27,175 (46.4%) | 44.7% |
 law
|
12,704 (52.4%) | 11,531 (47.6%) | 48.8% |
 Lucerne
|
59,956 (35.8%) | 57,759 (49.1%) | 48.1% |
 Neuchâtel
|
21,642 (44.8%) | 26,655 (55.2%) | 46.0% |
 Nidwalden
|
6,423 (47.7%) | 7,046 (52.3%) | 46.4% |
 Obwalden
|
5,549 (50.0%) | 5,546 (50.0%) | 47.5% |
 Schaffhausen
|
16,107 (57.8%) | 16,349 (42.2%) | 60.8% |
 Schwyz
|
25,339 (57.8%) | 18,463 (42.2%) | 46.3% |
 Solothurn
|
41,091 (54.0%) | 34,940 (46.0%) | 45.2% |
 St. Gallen
|
81,052 (57.5%) | 59,944 (42.5%) | 47.3% |
 Ticino
|
46,234 (57.2%) | 34,576 (42.8%) | 40.1% |
 Thurgau
|
37,525 (54.3%) | 31,592 (45.7%) | 45.9% |
 Uri
|
5,310 (55.1%) | 4,328 (44.9%) | 38.9% |
 Vaud
|
79,587 (39.9%) | 119,880 (60.1%) | 51.0% |
 Valais
|
62,289 (56.5%) | 48,003 (43.5%) | 57.4% |
 train
|
17,737 (50.7%) | 17,243 (49.3%) | 50.0% |
 Zurich
|
233,696 (54.4%) | 195,734 (45.6%) | 52.0% |
 Swiss Confederation
|
1,206,222 (51.9%) | 1,119,152 (48.1%) | 46.5% |
implementation
The new Article 123b of the Federal Constitution came into force on November 30, 2008 with the adoption of the initiative. However, it had to be implemented through a revision of the penal code. In particular, indefinite legal terms such as “children before puberty” and “sexual and pornographic offenses” had to be specified. Federal Councilor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf commissioned the Federal Office of Justice to work out initial proposals for implementation by the beginning of 2009. In February 2009, a discussion took place between the Federal Councilor and the initiative committee.
In May 2010, the Federal Council sent a legislative revision of the Penal Code, the Military Criminal Code and the Youth Criminal Code in the consultation . He suggested an age limit of ten years in order to specify the imprecise criterion “before puberty”. The draft law also presented a catalog of criminal offenses that would have to be considered non-statute-barred within the meaning of the constitutional article. A special regulation for underage offenders was provided.
Because of the reactions in the consultation process, the Federal Council submitted to Parliament the message before and a bill to implement the initiative. Compared to the consultation draft, the age limit of the victims had been raised: There is now no statute of limitations for sexual offenses against children under the age of twelve. The Federal Council wanted to define four offenses as non-statute-barred offenses: sexual acts with children, sexual coercion, rape and desecration .
At the request of the preliminary advisory commission of the National Council , two further offenses, namely sexual acts with prison inmates and taking advantage of an emergency situation, were added to the catalog of non-statute-barred offenses. The law was passed by parliament on June 15, 2012. The new provisions of the Criminal Code read:
StGB Art. 101 para. 1 let. e
1 There is no statute of limitations for:
e. Sexual acts with children (Art. 187 para. 1), sexual coercion (Art. 189), rape (Art. 190), desecration (Art. 191), sexual acts with prisoners, prisoners, accused (Art. 192 para. 1 ) and taking advantage of the emergency (Art. 193, Paragraph 1) if they were committed on children under the age of 12.
The law came into force on January 1, 2013.
Web links
- Page no longer available , search in web archives: overview of the legislative project on the website of the Federal Office of Justice
- Parliament's dossier
Individual evidence
- ↑ admin.ch: New statute of limitations instead of no statute of limitations: the better solution; Vote on November 30, 2008 on the non-statute of limitations initiative
- ↑ admin.ch: Results [1]
- ↑ admin.ch: Federal People's Initiative «for the non-statute of limitations for pornographic crimes against children» came about
- ↑ Template No. 535, preliminary official final results - Swiss Federal Chancellery, November 30, 2008
- ↑ admin.ch: Implementation of the non-statute of limitations initiative started ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ admin.ch: page no longer available , search in web archives: discussion of the implementation of the non-statute of limitations initiative
- ↑ admin.ch: page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives: media release: Federal Council sends legislative revision for consultation
- ↑ admin.ch: Page no longer available , search in web archives: Summary of the results of the consultation process (PDF; 82 kB)
- ↑ admin.ch: Federal Council Message (PDF; 274 kB)
- ↑ admin.ch: draft law (PDF; 106 kB)
- ↑ admin.ch draft law (PDF; 106 kB) and page no longer available , search in web archives: media release on the Federal Council's message
- ↑ parlament.ch: Verbatim minutes of the parliamentary debates
- ↑ admin.ch: Federal law for the implementation of Article 123b of the Federal Constitution on the non-limitation of sexual and pornographic offenses against children before puberty
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