Young felons

Criminalize children over 12? Now a new initiative

Looking for solutions in the area of juvenile delinquency: Interior Minister Gerhard Karner and Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler

(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth)

New initiative by the ÖVP ministries in the area of juvenile delinquency. They want to lower the age of criminal responsibility for serious crimes to twelve years and also make parents more liable - the results of a working group have been presented to back this up.

The issue has been hotly debated since Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) first considered the issue of the age of criminal responsibility in March. There has already been an attempt at a similar amendment to the law in the National Council - the FPÖ wanted to lower the age of criminal responsibility. However, the People's Party spoke out against a quick fix and wanted a discussion with experts first.

First instruction, then punishment
The first interim report of the expert commission ("Working Group on Juvenile Delinquency") is now available. A bundle of measures is proposed - the most spectacular of which is the lowering of the limit for prison sentences or the age of criminal responsibility to twelve years in the case of felonies.

In addition, there are to be police briefings - also for children under the age of twelve - which children must attend with their parents. Failure to do so could result in administrative fines of up to 4600 euros.

Young people "mature earlier"
Details of the current plan were explained at a press conference on Friday, with Interior Minister Gerhard Karner and Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler (both ÖVP) providing information. The argument was based on the "earlier physical and psychological maturity" of young people today. In addition, young offenders are sometimes deliberately incited because they are still of criminal age. As an example, Karner cited a case that took place in front of the Federal Criminal Police Office: an older teenager had pressed a butterfly knife into the hand of a younger one so that he could commit a robbery with it.

It's not about getting children into prison.

Verfassungsministerin Karoline Edtstadler

However, it is expressly "not about putting children in prison", emphasized the Minister of the Constitution. Young people and children should be given more guidance and led back onto the right path. Criminal law is the "ultima ratio".

The measures in detail

• Age of criminal responsibility: lowering the age of criminal responsibility to twelve years for particularly serious acts of violence (murder, rape, armed robbery, grievous bodily harm) or serious offenders (including drug dealing or burglary) - while at the same time determining whether the offender had the maturity to recognize the wrongdoing
• Police instruction for minors with the involvement of legal guardians (administrative fine of up to 1000 euros for non-compliance, up to 4600 euros for repeat offenders)
• Mandatory case conferences for minor offenders (based on the model of case conferences for protection against violence)
• Mandatory stay in care or educational facilities (taking into account the protection of personal freedom)
• Mandatory training for legal guardians, parent control app
• Networking of police, schools, youth welfare authorities, justice system, care facilities
• Establishment of a "child protection quality assurance center" (seal of approval for facilities with child protection concepts)
• Establishment of a child protection unit with a digital focus (saferinternet.at; strengthening the expertise of child protection organizations)
• Expansion of contact points and support services for integration, mandatory parenting courses for children with a migrant background with language deficits

Violence against and by young people
The background to the debate is several cases of violence against children in which the alleged perpetrators were themselves minors. Many Krone readers remember a twelve-year-old girl who was the victim of a gang rape in Vienna. There were 17 suspects at the time.

The number of suspects between the ages of ten and 14 has almost doubled in the past ten years. In 2013 there were 4821 suspects, in 2023 there were already 9729.

Many dissenting voices
Lowering the age of criminal responsibility has always been highly controversial. Recently, numerous experts have spoken out against lowering the age of criminal responsibility - such as the Criminal Policy Network, which includes the Association of Judges, the Austrian Bar Association, the Association of Austrian Criminal Defense Lawyers, the probationary association Neustart and the crime victims' charity Weißer Ring. There were accusations of legislation for cause.

Supreme Court President Georg Kodek declared in March that prison was "not a panacea". Green Justice Minister Alma Zadić also spoke out against a change. The SPÖ is also against it.

(Bild: Krone Kreativ, Adobe Stock)

Defense lawyer: maturity level needs to be assessed
Well-known criminal defense lawyer Rudolf Mayer currently comments to the "Krone": "A general lowering is wrong. The right thing would be for a psychiatrist to assess the maturity level of young people." Adolescents are developed differently, some twelve-year-olds are as mature as 16-year-olds and vice versa, says Mayer. "Those who have this maturity should be punished with all the consequences. And those who haven't should receive intensive supervision." Mayer points out that in the USA, children are put in custody with adults. Simply lowering the age of criminal responsibility would be a populist measure, a battle for votes.