serious form. reflecting the law's emphasis on the requirement for the use of force, a 2006 decision by the federal court of justice of germany overturned a lower court's conviction for rape, on the grounds that the "accused ripped off the clothes from the body of the co-plaintiff and had sexual intercourse with her against her explicitly expressed will”, but had not “forced the victim with violence". according to a study performed in 2014, by an organization of women's counseling and rape crisis centers, out of 107 studied cases of rape, the majority of perpetrators were not prosecuted, because their actions fell outside the legal definition at the time. 1998 reforms the sixth criminal law reform act, passed in 1998 included a number of changes intended to harmonize sentencing for sexual, and non-sexual offenses, and generally resulted in increases in severity for sexual offenses. it also included provisions related to the protection of children, the disabled, the institutionalized, and drug addicts. 2002 violence protection act the 2002 violence protection act (gewaltschutzgesetz) focussed broadly on all forms of domestic violence. while the previous assumption was that victims should leave their joint residence, the introduction of this law gave civil courts the power to serve orders on the perpetrator to vacate the residence. 2016 reforms german language graffiti in vienna from 2010, reading nein heisst nein, or "no means no" on 23 september 2016, the law was reformed again, with a new focus on lack of consent rather than resistance on the part of the victim. it broadened the legal definition to include "any sexual act that a victim declines through verbal or physical cues, whereas the previous law required the victim fight back," and other forms of non-consensual sexual contact, such as groping and fondling, were not illegal. the new law strengthened penalties for all perpetrators of sexual assault, mandated deportation for convicted migrants, and made it easier to prosecute assaults committed by large groups. the law also provided equal punishment under the following circumstances, if the perpetrator: exploits the fact that the person cannot consent exploits the fact that the person is significantly impaired because of a physical or mental condition, unless there is prior consent exploits an element of surprise exploits a situation in which the victim is threatened with serious harm in case of resistance coerces the person to actively engage in or tolerate sexual acts by threatening serious harm although the law dropped the previous requirement for the use of coercion or force by the perpetrator, it incorporated these elements as an aggravating factor, along with situations where the victim is incapacitated due to disease or disability. the changes followed a series of cases that sparked public outrage, and the popularity of the #neinheisstnein (no means no) campaign. these included the acquittal of two men charged with drugging and raping gina-lisa lohfink, and posting video of it online, a video in which "she reportedly says 'stop it' and 'no' as they force themselves on her". however, it is important to note that lohfink was later convicted for falsely accusing the two men by a german court. it also followed the events of the 2015/2016 new year's eve, mainly in the city of cologne, where hundreds of women were sexually assaulted, but through actions which, it was ultimately determined, were not illegal under the current law. other high-profile cases included the 2016 murder of maria ladenburger and 2018 killing of susanna feldmann, which gained attention because the attacks were carried out by immigrants. statutory rape consensual sex is legal from the age of 14 in most cases. there is an exception if the older partner is above the age of 18, and is “exploiting a coercive situation” or offering compensation, and the younger partner is under 16. it is also illegal for someone older than 21 to have sex with someone under the age of 16 if the older person “exploits the victim’s lack of capacity for sexual self-determination.” services for victims beginning in 1984, victims may access government funded legal services according to means tested eligibility criteria. more commonly, victims who cannot afford legal representation may be appointed a lawyer; however, prosecutors are obliged to pursue the case regardless of whether the victim is a party to the proceedings. victims may also receive services from privately run weisser ring ("white ring") victim support organizations, or notruf, "big" and wildwasser rape crisis centers located throughout the country. representatives from these organizations may accompany the victims in filing reports, during interviews, and throughout legal proceedings.