Images of abuse

How a restart program for young people works

Since the Teichtmeister case, the possession of child sexual abuse material has been discussed time and again. However, half of the accused are not adults, but young people. The probation service association Neustart has developed a sex and social education program for them.

"The sending of images by young people is a different issue to that of 'classic' sex offenders," says Herbert Janusch, head of department at Neustart Leoben. Most young people who possess, produce or distribute child abuse material would have received the photos and videos via social media and saved them on their cell phones. Others would have taken and forwarded revealing pictures of their girlfriend.

They were often unaware that they could be convicted if someone informed the law enforcement authorities. "I was surprised myself that you could be convicted for this," says a 17-year-old from the district of Leoben in Styria. He had received a sexual video of a girl on his cell phone and saved it for 15 minutes. He then deleted it and informed the girl about it. He is now much more careful with pictures.

From the left: Herbert Janusch, Elvir Kujovic and Kerstin Memisevic developed the Restart program.(Bild: APA/Die Büdlmocharei/Hübler)

Six months of training
He is one of 16 boys who have completed the Neustart sex and social education program since October. The young people are trained in media skills, how to deal with pornography and the laws on depictions of abuse. Topics include the perspective of victims, the difference between reality and fiction, cybersex and self-presentation on the internet. The entire program lasts six months, with each session lasting five hours.

"Everyone who has successfully completed the program with us has never been taught at school that the internet is not a legal vacuum," says Neustart employee Elvir Kujovic. The 17-year-old confirms this. "It would be cool if we could do this at school." He would have imagined the sessions to be very different, but they "gave him a lot."

33 convictions in the previous year
With the "sicher.net § 207a" program, Neustart wants to prevent the young people concerned from being labeled as sex offenders and enable them to continue their school and professional careers without any problems. It is aimed at those who receive probationary assistance due to the possession or passing on of child abuse material.

In the previous year, 33 young people were found guilty in this area, with 23 convictions in the first half of 2024.