VAWnet News Blog

German newspapers including Berlin’s “tageszeitung” and the “Hannover Allgemeine Zeitung” reported on Monday that sexual abuse “by taking advantage of special circumstances” will be condemned under an alteration of paragraph 179 of Germany’s penal code. More specifically, the draft legislation will address sexual abuse which exploits a victim’s fear of a “perceived menace.”

Now, the legislature wants to start a task force that would prevent these tragedies. Part of it would be a call for more training for judges.

The Texas Council on Family Violence and the Center Against Sexual and Family Violence on Wednesday recognized members of El Paso’s legislative delegation for their efforts in passing legislation providing those resources during the 84th Legislature that wrapped up last month.

Gov. Maggie Hassan has signed a new law to increase the state’s marriage license fee by $5 and begin fining domestic violence offenders.

“Children and very young babies can sense the fear in their parent and that has a profound impact … the relationship between the baby and the child’s primary carer, usually the mother, is critical to that child’s development,” she said.

“Research shows that there’s a number of harmful effects on children [including] behavioural problems, learning difficulties, anxiety, [and] some children show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder [as well as] a whole range of learning behaviours,” he said.