History
The original Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Schriften (Federal Department for Writings Harmful to Young Persons) was established on May 18, 1954, after the Gesetz über die Verbreitung jugendgefährdender Schriften was adopted on June 9, 1953. The presiding officers of the Bundesprüfstelle have been:
- Robert Schilling 1954 - 1966
- Werner Jungeblodt 1966 - 1969 (Deputy: Eduard Tack)
- Rudolf Stefen 1969 - 1991 (Deputies: Elke Monssen-Engberding, later Gerhard Adams)
- Since 1991: Elke Monssen-Engberding (Deputies: Dr. Bettina Brockhorst, now Petra Meier)
The first session deciding upon applications requesting the indexing of materials took place on July 9, 1954. The first two works indexed by the BPjS were Tarzan comics. The rationale for this was that they would affect young people in a "nerve-inflaming and brutalizing way" and "transport them into an unreal world of lies". Such works were supposedly "the result of a degenerate imagination".
In 1978 the number and type of institutions which could petition for a work to be indexed was widened considerably. Since then, not only the higher authorities with responsibility for young people in the Länder (states), but also the youth welfare offices of individual Kreise (districts) have been authorized to submit applications. The number of applications for indexing has multiplied significantly as a result of this.
Following the Erfurt massacre (a Columbine-like shooting at a school in Erfurt), the Jugendschutzgesetz was passed in June 2002, replacing the Gesetz über die Verbreitung jugendgefährdender Schriften and the Gesetz zum Schutz der Jugend in der Öffentlichkeit (Law for Protection of Young Persons in Public Places). It came into effect on April 1, 2003.
The change in the law clarified the area over which the Bundesprüfstelle had authority. New forms of media such as websites and computer software were within its jurisdiction. As a result of these new powers the organisation's name was changed to the current Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien. As previously, an examination order can result from the application of a state youth protection agency or from the request of a non-governmental youth organisation.
For video games, the new law also made the ratings of the USK compulsory. Games that have been given a rating by this organisation can no longer be put on the index.
Read more about this topic: Federal Department For Media Harmful To Young Persons
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“In all history no class has been enfranchised without some selfish motive underlying. If to-day we could prove to Republicans or Democrats that every woman would vote for their party, we should be enfranchised.”
—Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947)
“America is, therefore the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the World’s history shall reveal itself. It is a land of desire for all those who are weary of the historical lumber-room of Old Europe.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)