On Wednesday, the government pushed the announced child protection package through the Council of Ministers. The most important points are more money for targeted prevention and victim protection, but also significantly heavier penalties than before. The stumbling block included the case of Florian Teichtmeister, who received a suspended sentence for possessing and making tens of thousands of images of sexual abuse of minors.
The package of measures must be based on three pillars: targeted prevention, effective prosecution and sanctions, and victim protection. This guarantees comprehensive protection of children against sexual violence. “The goal of the federal government is to prevent crimes before they happen,” the statement said.
Child protection concept mandatory in schools
When it comes to prevention, the mandatory implementation of child protection concepts in schools has the highest priority: “An effective child protection concept can prevent violence before it happens,” says the government. The concept includes concrete rules of conduct for teachers. This way they know what to do and who to inform if they are concerned about a child.
A model child protection concept has also been created for clubs and (youth) organizations and a quality mark is also being introduced for the clubs that implement this. In the future, a security service will issue these stamps, investigate clubs and organizations and advise them on child protection. Appropriate financial resources must also be made available for this.
Up to ten years in prison possible
A much-discussed point is the tightening of penalties for possessing or producing/editing images of sexual abuse of minors. Possession carries a prison sentence of one to two years, but if it is child abuse material involving minors, the prison sentence can be up to three years.
What’s new is that if you produce or offer a “large number” (= more than 30 photos or videos) of images of abuse with the intent to distribute them, you could in the future be jailed for up to ten years. This means that the penalties are sometimes doubled, sometimes even tripled, compared to the current legal situation.
The ban on activities has been tightened
The rules for banning the activities of convicted offenders have also been revised. To ensure an extension of the activity prohibitions, the previous requirement of the activity or the intention to perform the activity at the time of the violation must no longer apply.
Police will be given additional staff to investigate and investigate activities in cyberspace, and a dedicated space for online child abuse will be created in national criminal investigation agencies as part of criminal justice reform.
More money for victim protection, new campaign
There is also more money for victim protection, especially psychosocial aftercare for victims of violence; Here the budget is expanded by 3.5 million euros and the budget of the family guidance centers by three million euros per year. To make the population even more aware of this problem, an extensive child protection campaign will be carried out in the coming months.
Expert only sees ‘symbolism’
Criminal justice professor Alois Birklbauer from the University of Linz expressed his skepticism about the government’s child protection package in the lunch magazine “Ö1” on Wednesday. The measures are “more of a symbolism,” says Birklbauer. “In criminological research it is very doubtful whether the heavier punishment will change anything here,” said the expert. In the future, possession of child abuse images could lead to a maximum of two years in prison instead of one year.
“Concepts alone are not enough”
It is doubtful that in serious cases the punishment is the same as for direct ‘hands-on’ violations, says Birklbauer. “From a legal dogmatic and criminal policy perspective, this is a very critical approach, because the value of the crimes can get out of hand,” Birklbauer said. Regarding the planned child protection concepts in schools, he said: “I think prevention is very important and I think it is good that there are concepts to raise awareness, but concepts alone are not enough.”
Resources are also needed for prevention and relationship work, he said. Statistically, more than 80 percent of all cases of abuse take place within “their own four walls” “and not in institutions such as schools, cultural institutions or sports companies,” according to the report. “You have to start here with the concepts.”
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
