In Bavaria the number of people convicted of child sexual abuse rose in 2025. It was 9.2 per cent higher than the previous year, according to the criminal prosecution statistics presented by Justice Minister Josef Schmid on 11 November 2026 in Munich A total of 334 people were convicted of such offences, compared with 306 in 2024.
Courts also handed down more guilty verdicts for the distribution, acquisition or possession of child sexual abuse material. According to Bavaria’s Justice Ministry, 969 people were convicted in this category, 11.1 per cent more than the previous year. The two figures relate to different offences and cannot be added together to calculate the number of children affected.
Schmid described the figures as alarmingly high and pointed to the work of specialist investigators. This includes the Centre for Combating Child Pornography and Sexual Abuse on the Internet at Bavaria’s Central Cybercrime Office. The minister also attributed the rise to successful investigations. At the same time, he said he believed that more offences were being committed.
However, the statistics alone cannot show the true extent of sexual violence against children. They cover cases that have been concluded with final effect in Bavarian criminal courts. A rise in the number of convictions may, among other things, be due to changes in investigative activity; on its own, it does not show how the total number of offences has changed. Nor does the date of a conviction correspond to the date of the offence.
In 2024, the number of people convicted of child sexual abuse had already risen by 27 per cent compared with 2023, according to the Justice Ministry. The newly released statistics therefore show a further increase for another year. However, they do not indicate how many cases go unreported to the authorities.
Overall, by contrast, Bavaria’s justice system recorded fewer convictions. In 2025, 105,938 people were convicted with final effect, compared with 110,691 the previous year. That was a fall of 4.3 per cent. According to the ministry, the number of people convicted of offences against sexual self-determination, however, rose by 4.2 per cent.
The criminal prosecution statistics are compiled annually by the Bavarian State Office for Statistics. They record court decisions and therefore differ from records of cases reported to the police. Both perspectives are relevant when assessing developments: one shows what investigative authorities deal with, while the other shows which cases result in final court decisions.
For the justice system, the rise in the offences cited means that more final convictions were recorded in the annual figures, even though the overall number of people convicted fell. The statistics alone do not provide a definitive explanation for this contrasting trend.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).