Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court recently heard the sad case of a sister and brother, Patrick S and Susan K, which may lead one to consider whether ‘consensual’ adult incest is neccessarily a ‘victimless crime’ as some extreme libertarians would maintain.

The situation is this. Patrick and Susan are siblings, born to a severely toxic dysfunctional family with a violent abusive dad. When Patrick was three, his alcoholic dad tried to cut his throat with a knife, whereupon Patrick was taken into care in Potsdam and reassigned to a loving supportive family. Aged 23, he made enquiries about his birthmother in 1999, and met his family of origin once more in Leipzig, where he shifted, giving up a job and regular girlfriend back in Berlin.

This is where the trouble started, as he met Susan, then sixteen. In 2000, their mother suddenly died. In 2001, Susan gave birth to a child. Her social worker suspected the relationship was incestuous, and Patrick was sentenced to one year imprisonment. In 2002, it happened again, and there was a second trial in 2004, whereupon Patrick was imprisoned for a further ten months. After a retrial, that sentence was extended to two years in jail, whereupon his lawyer appealed it to the Federal Constitutional Court, Germany’s highest. It found against them, 7-1.

What can one conclude from this? Intellectually disabled people are as entitled to form relationships with one another as the rest of us, although some paternalistic sterilisation will need to occur if they have insufficient developmental status to care for children. The Court did the right thing- although I am left wondering if prolonged psychotherapeutic care might not be more appropriate for these two sadly damaged people.

Source:
Dietmar Hipp: “German High Court Takes A Look at Incest” Der Speigel 11.03.08: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,540831,00.html