An antisemitic motive in a criminal act will significantly increase the penalty for such an act

Introduction:

Germany is promoting legislation to better counter the harsh effects of extremist and antisemitic discourse on the net, as well as to more effectively confront hate crimes.

The new legislation,  to some extent, shifts the balance between freedom of expression and hate speech, and strengthens prosecution authorities in dealing with hate speech and hate crimes, emphasizing their characteristics and antisemitic motives.

It is noteworthy that in order to implement the legislative amendments, changes were required in a large number of laws, including  the Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Federal Registration Act, Federal Criminal Police Office Act, Telemedia Act, Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG), and others.

We call on people who can help promote this type of legislation in their country to do so.

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Change in the general part of the criminal law (Sec. 46 German Criminal Code):

If there are antisemitic motives for a crime, this will increase the penalty in the future – regardless of the criminal offense that has been committed. The new Section will be implemented in the general part of the German Criminal Code that applies for every crime.