Because of origin etc.

One in five hate crimes committed on the internet

Hate crimes are mainly committed by young males (symbolic image).

(Bild: BMI / Alexander TUMA)

5668 hate crimes were reported in Austria last year. This is a slight decrease compared to the previous year. The most common motive was ideology (2706), followed by national or ethnic origin (1612) and religion (700).

This was announced by the Ministry of the Interior in a press release on Wednesday. Hate crimes are crimes in which social characteristics such as a person's gender, age or social status are the motives. The crime is directed against the selected group as a whole or can also be directed against an institution or object. In the previous year, the most common motive was a person's ideology, with violations of the National Socialist Prohibition Act, damage to property and incitement to hatred dominating. In most cases, the suspects had no direct contact with the victims.

This is the distribution of hate crimes in Austria:

National socialist hate postings on the internet
Accordingly, violations of the Prohibition Act stood out online in three quarters of all hate postings. One in five hate crimes is committed online. In contrast, people experience physical violence primarily because of their age or gender. Violence against people with a disability or queer people is also often physical.

In the religion category, the most crimes were committed in the area of anti-Semitism, ahead of anti-Muslim hatred. For example, three out of four anti-religious hate postings were classified as anti-Semitic. The main crimes against Muslims were bodily harm, damage to property and dangerous threats. Sexual orientation has increased the most, with almost every second offense (47%) occurring in public spaces.

Perpetrators often male and young
As in previous years, it was mainly young males who committed the reported crimes. In Vienna, for example, a 17-year-old is currently in custody for allegedly killing two homeless people in the summer of 2023. 28% of the perpetrators had a nationality other than Austrian, which is lower than the overall crime rate (46%). These suspects were overrepresented in the previous year, particularly in cases of ageism, misogyny or hostility towards Muslims.

The full report can be read online on the website of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Only crimes for which investigations have already been completed were counted. Within the period covered, the police solved 68.7 percent of all crimes motivated by prejudice.