More and more charges

“Warning shot arrest” demanded for young criminals

(Bild: motortion - stock.adobe.com)

According to the latest list in the security report, significantly more ten to 18-year-old suspects have been reported in Upper Austria since the last census. This has set alarm bells ringing for the ÖVP. They are once again calling for the age of criminal responsibility to be lowered and for measures to be taken.

What the security report recently published by the Ministry of the Interior reveals for the whole of Austria also applies to our province: juvenile crime is on the rise. This can be seen from the latest figures evaluated from the year 2022. 5820 ten to 18-year-old suspects were reported - 960 more than in the previous year.

Theft is the number one offense
The figures rose for all top three offenses: Theft (+25.4%), damage to property (+15.4%) and assault (+36.4%). The increases in commercial gang theft (+342%), continued use of violence (+325%) and fraud through misuse of IT (+298.1%) have virtually exploded.

A reduction in the age of criminal responsibility from the current 14 to 12 years for particularly serious crimes or serious offenders is a step that is currently being discussed throughout Europe.

Florian Hiegelsberger, ÖVP-Landesgeschäftsführer

ÖVP calls for a package of measures
In view of these trends, ÖVP regional managing director Florian Hiegelsberger once again considers a reduction in the age of criminal responsibility from the current 14 to twelve years for particularly serious crimes or serious offenders to be worth discussing. In any case, he believes that the federal government should implement officially imposed supervision hours in the form of bans on going out, accompanied visits to prisons, a "warning shot arrest" in addition to conditional sentences, exclusion from driving tests and penalties for uncooperative parents who have demonstrably facilitated criminal acts by children or young people.