Mostly young offenders – hate crimes were up about seven percent

According to the report, more hate crimes were recorded across Austria in 2022 than in 2021 (5464). The clear-up rate was 68.3 percent in 2022, which is significantly higher than the clear-up rate of the crime statistics (52.2 percent) of the past year. For the second time after 2021, the world view lists the reasons for crimes with 2466 registrations. Other frequently mentioned motives are national/ethnic origin with data from 1968 and religion in 630 cases. “In terms of ideology, prohibition law violations are the most responsible, accounting for half of all recorded crimes,” the report said.

Violations of the prohibition law also appear in the report as a whole. “Criminal crimes under the Prohibition Act show the greatest accumulation and represent one-third of hate crimes with 1969 crimes, followed by crimes against property (1422), crimes against life and limb (972) and against liberty (815),” said a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Of the total of 6,779 motives for prejudice, 2,377 also related to subsidiary criminal law – “of which almost exclusively prohibition law”.

In 2021, property crimes still topped the statistics, followed by sub-criminal offenses. In contrast, crimes against sexual integrity and self-determination have fallen by nearly 21 percent. In 2021, 141 offenses with 186 prejudices were registered in this area, in 2022 there were 112 and 122 motives.

Suspects of hate crimes are often very young
Compared to the total number of suspects in this year’s crime statistics, hate crime suspects were more likely to be juveniles or under criminal liability. “They were also mostly male and less likely to hold foreign citizenship than the total number of suspects in 2022. These circumstances were particularly striking for anti-Semitic crimes,” the report says. On the other hand, the share of suspects with foreign citizenship in anti-Christian and anti-Muslim crimes and in hate crimes against gender and sexual orientation is increasing. In addition, 42 percent of all suspects of bias-motivated crimes are under the age of 25.

As in 2021, (semi-)public places dominated crime for bodily injury and property damage, less clearly for crimes of liberty. Hate speech is said to have largely taken place online, with a similar frequency for every second violation of the prohibition law. Online, the high proportion of anti-Semitic motives, philosophical motives that do not fall under the prohibition law and criminal offenses against the prohibition law are striking. “This speaks for less direct contact between the suspects and these victim groups and is probably due to the anti-Semitic and racist ‘memes’ that were exchanged on social media or social media platforms via courier services,” the reason is given.

Since November 2020, criminal offenses based on prejudice have been registered electronically, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Due to the short recording period (2021 and 2022), a development trend cannot yet be interpreted, it was emphasized. “Only short-term deductions can be made,” said the spokesperson. A further increase in the number of reported crimes can be expected through awareness-raising measures. At the same time, this reduces the dark field. “A scientific study into dark field research is being prepared for next year,” said the spokesperson.

Karner emphasizes the importance of prevention
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner referred to the key function of prevention in connection with the report. “In the context of the current reform of the investigative service and the protection of the constitution in the federal states, this is a priority. Through preventive work with young people, extremist tendencies can be recognized early and countermeasures can be taken,” said Karner. “The radical and extreme corners of our society are trying to undermine and thus endanger our democratic coexistence.”

Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) followed the same line. Hate crimes pose a serious threat to the cohesion of a democratic society. “Recent hate campaigns and calls for violence have shown us how real this threat is,” said the minister.