From 14 to 12 years?

Reduce the age of criminal responsibility: Experts against it

(Bild: mauritius images)

Since an alleged gang rape of a girl (12), in which the suspects themselves are under 14 years old, became known, the waves have been running high. Should the age of criminal responsibility be lowered in Austria? What are the arguments for and against this?

The alleged gang rape of a 12-year-old girl has reignited the debate about the age of criminal responsibility for minors. Particularly because some of the 17 alleged perpetrators are not even 14 years old yet - meaning they cannot be prosecuted under criminal law.

"Not a suitable means"
Criminal sociologist Veronika Hofinger and the specialist group for juvenile criminal law in the Association of Judges do not see much merit in Chancellor Karl Nehammer's (ÖVP) proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 14 for offenses such as rape or grievous bodily harm. For Hofinger, this would be "absolute legislation for cause" and would not be effective. The judiciary does not consider imprisonment to be a primarily suitable means of combating child and juvenile delinquency.

Criminal prosecution is not the key to the solution. If that were the case, we would not have any repeat offenders over the age of 14.

Petra Huber-Lintner, Leiterin für Allgemeine Kriminalität im Bundeskriminalamt

"We are unanimously convinced that lowering the age of criminal responsibility will not achieve anything. Experience shows that a twelve-year-old often doesn't even recognize the wrongfulness of their actions or doesn't act with any sense of guilt or understanding," said Andreas Hautz, board member of the specialist group and a juvenile court judge in Vienna for 25 years. Prevention and street work are the right tools to dissuade children from criminal behavior. Locking children up, on the other hand, is useless," said Hautz.

Age of criminal responsibility

According to Section 19 of the Austrian Criminal Code (StGB), children are not criminally responsible before the age of 14. The legislator assumes that children before the age of 14 are not capable of recognizing the injustice of a crime and acting on this insight.

It is no secret that child and youth crime is generally on the rise. The most common crimes committed by minors are theft, assault and damage to property.

"The percentage has risen, more minors are becoming criminals," says Petra Huber-Lintner, Head of General Crime at the Federal Criminal Police Office.

The key lies in preventative work
Lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12 is also not welcomed by Huber-Lintner. This would not reduce the number of crimes.

"Criminal prosecution is not the key to the solution. If that were the case, we wouldn't have any repeat offenders over the age of 14," she says. And putting 13-year-olds in locked psychiatric wards is also only a short-term solution. Instead, the expert sees preventative work as the key. This is important in order to get young people out of the cycle of crime.