Juvenile Sentence for 23-Year-Old Drug Importer

In Bad Aibling, a small town in Bavaria, Germany, a Juvenile Justice Court a saw a 23-year-old former drug trafficker. This is highly unusual in any circumstance, according to the Court, but not without reason in this case. The crimes involved ordering drugs from darknet markets for both personal use and for distribution. However, the drug use and drug trafficking ended years ago, and because of this, the defendant received a sentence of 12-months in custody—a juvenile sentence.

The Court acknowledged that the now 23-year-old would have been tried as a juvenile in the past and when the crimes had occurred. No specific date was given, but both the prosecution and the defense revealed that the 23-year-old had broken the law more than two years ago. The defense’s narrative, though, starts all the way back to the defendant’s grade school days. At 15-years-old, he had “already smoked hashish.” Furthermore, not only had the defendant smoked hashish at 15-years-old, he had also sold it to his classmates. This is seemingly uncommon in Bad Aibling.

“As a 16-years-old, he was a drug expert,” the Court heard. According to the defense, at 16, the defendant had already become acquainted with darknet drug markets. While his birthdays were not disclosed, the math still seems slightly off here. He is currently 23. As with any living creature, seven years pass before a 16-year-old reaches age 23. The current year, 2017, subtracted by seven years, equals 2010. The Silk Road launched publicly in 2011. As a drug expert, though, ordering drugs from a darknet market may not have meant ordering from modern day marketplaces. The Farmer’s Market existed in the darknet in 2010—albeit little different than the clearnet variant.

A woman who recently overdosed in Bad Aibling had ordered drugs for him, under his name and with his money. Realistically, he had convinced a drug addict to order drugs for his own use and for distribution. She would place the orders that would later be split into three parts. One part, the defense said, he kept for personal use. The other two parts were for distribution. She distributed to feed her own addiction. He ordered hashish, LSD, MDMA, amphetamine and 2CB.

Customs, one day, intercepted a package that belonged to the defendant. His partner’s portion of the drugs made the matter far more serious. Unfortunately for him, the woman had overdosed prior to the order’s arrival. He proved that he had only paid $470. That, according to forensic investigators, backed up the defendant’s claims. He still, however, acted with drugs in a way that he knew was illegal. The woman distributed the drugs and he had known this.

“The young man was now on a positive path, which he proved by his own efforts to start therapy and actually start,” the prosecutor noted. He also acknowledged the defendant had provided a full confession. He agreed that if the 23-year-old had been placed in front of a judge at the time of the crime, the judge would have convicted him as a juvenile. And the Court did exactly that with a one year juvenile sentence.