Structure
The German Penal Code is divided into two main parts:
General Part (Allgemeiner Teil): in which general issues are arranged, for example:
Area of the law's validity Law-related definitions Capacity to be adjudged guilty
Perpetration and incitement or accessoryship Necessary defence
General provisions for punishments (fines and imprisonment)
Statutes of limitations Attempts
Special Part (Besonderer Teil): in which the different criminal offences and their definitions and punishments are listed, for example:
Crimes against the democratic rule of law Crimes against public order
Crimes against the person of a sexual nature Crimes against life
Crimes against another person's wealth (for example robbery and theft)
Notable sections
§ 211: Murder (under aggravating circumstances)
In German: Mord. The intentional, successful killing of another person, with at least one of the aggravating circumstances mentioned in § 211 sec.2 fulfilled. Those circumstances concern base motives, criminal aims or cruel ways of committing the crime.
§ 211 is the only crime within the Strafgesetzbuch that carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment .
§ 130: Sedition
Section 3 outlaws denying the genocide committed under the rule of National Socialism (1933–1945). Section 4 prohibits glorifying or approving the reign of the Nazis.