Overview
- Brandenburg’s AfD parliamentary group on Tuesday, October 6, 2026 formally proposed lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to ten and adding new measures for young offenders.
- The proposal calls for taking violent or repeat young offenders out of their families, placing them in closed accommodation and placing their siblings into custody to prevent so‑called family-based criminal careers.
- Other Landtag groups including the CDU, SPD and BSW immediately rejected the plan as absurd and unconstitutional and specifically denounced the idea of collective measures against siblings.
- Under current German law juveniles are criminally responsible from age 14, while the police union (DPolG) has separately argued for a reduction to 12 and the federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig opposes lowering the threshold.
- Legal experts and opponents warn the AfD measures could violate individual guilt principles, child‑rights and constitutional protections and say no legislative change has been enacted or appears likely in the near term.