ABSTRACT
Child abuse is one of the most controversial topics of public debate in Germany today, not only in the media, but in professional discussions involving jurists, psychologists, and social workers. German law knows no comprehensive piece of legislation from which legal consequences and penalties for child abuse may be derived. Furthermore, there are several codifications which are of particular importance for the non-constitutional judgment of child abuse cases: the Civil Code in the field of civil law, the Child and Youth Services Act and the Penal Code in the field of public law. The Basic Law of 1949 – the German Constitution – occupies a unique position in the German legal system. This manifests itself in the fact not only that the legislature is bound to the constitutional order, but also that executive power and jurisdiction are subject to the law, and so to the Constitution.
