[Fatal violence by adolescents toward children--sexual motivation is in the foreground]

In seven cases, obtained from the autopsy material of two German institutes of forensic medicine (Hamburg and Berlin-East) the circumstances of manslaughter committed by youth versus children are presented. There is a tendency of sexual background in such an offender-victim-constellation. The cause of death was strangulation in most cases; the perpetrators intended to conceal the sexual misuse. Such cases are very rare; epidemiological conclusions concerning escalating violence of the youth cannot be drawn.