The problem with honor killings in Germany is that they're usually well-planned. Quite often, they're executed by a younger, obviously male member of the family, making use of the fact that young people between 14 and 18 years can't get more than 10 years of prison for any sort of murder. And when such a young boy is put to trial, the lawyer makes sure to tell the jury how deluded the poor fellow is, that he was badly influenced by his father's strict Muslim beliefs. Often, the killer doesn't get even the full 10 years, and the sentence even gets reduced afterwards for good conduct in prison. It's one of the terrible loopholes in our judicial system, I'm afraid.
As a matter of fact, it's rather misogynic. In Germany, tax fraud and theft are often punished harsher than rape, even when the victim is still a child! And, what adds insult to injury, it's usually the rapist that gets paid a therapy, not the victim. Here in Germany, the top priority seems to be to re-integrate prisoners into "normal" society, even if they have been sentenced for rape on more than one occasion. After all, what is another ruined life of a woman compared to the life of an acknowledged rapist?
There were several cases of repeat offenders, mostly child molesters which made one change to our system possible: By now, dangerous individuals can be kept in prison for safe-keeping even after their sentence expired. Unfortunately, there are too many psychiatrists around that attest that these monsters are "completely healed" and "unlikely to repeat their crime".
It's one of the reasons my daughter will start learning karate as soon as she turns five.
