Summit in Graz – New special unit against youth crime

On Monday afternoon, State Governor Christopher Drexler left for Wildalpen to thank the emergency services who have been fighting a forest fire tirelessly for more than a week. The subject of youth crime is also topical in Styria. To mark this occasion, the state champion invited experts from various fields to a round table at Graz Castle last Friday.

There he now explained his conclusions from the conversation with the experts. “For me, it is in no way about serving a populist caravan. Rather, it is a matter of norm acceptance. A question is whether people in our country still find the legal system appropriate. Whether they still have confidence in the rule of law,” says Drexler.

Closed residential facilities for difficult young people
But what does his conclusion look like? On the one hand, he calls for higher penalties, especially for increasingly younger offenders – “the opinion has been expressed several times in the panel of experts that the overall preventive effect of criminal law on young offenders is low.” Here he wants to take a corresponding initiative towards Justice Minister Alma Zadić. Drexler also wants to strengthen school social work and family social work for prevention. In this context, he also proposes the creation of “closed residential facilities” for young people with noticeable behavior. Before serious crimes occur, young people must receive educational support and guidance from social workers.

Radicalization on the Internet
The panel of experts also boosted Drexler’s desire for expanded Internet surveillance capabilities. “The radicalization on the Internet cannot be denied and ranges from anti-Semitism to right-wing extremism and Islamic extremism,” says Susanne Pekler of the Neustart association, which supports his demand in this regard. “Plus, even six- to eight-year-olds watch hardcore porn and believe that’s how sexuality works,” Pekler continues. Moreover, 700 to 800 young people in Styria are received in Neustart every year as part of the probation service.

To improve cooperation between experts from different areas, the governor wants to set up a coordination office in the state of Styria as soon as possible. “I assume that I will soon reach an agreement on this with our coalition partner. Because the ultimate goal should be to prevent crimes.” With all these points, Drexler hopes to initiate a broad debate on criminal law and criminal procedure law in Austria.

The Styrian police have already responded to rising youth crime (last year there were already 5,800 suspects between the ages of 10 and 18 in Styria) and installed a new task force. “Over the past two weeks, 126 officers have been deployed to several key operations,” explained State Police Director Gerald Ortner. There were about 90 advertisements. “Of course, events are mainly concentrated in the urban area, which is why the police command of the city of Graz now has thirty specially trained officers for this area.” Moreover, the crimes committed by young people who have committed crimes are wide-ranging and range from physical injury to property damage to internet crime.

Children need role models
Child and youth lawyer Denise Schiffrer-Barac also states: “Punishment alone is certainly not the final answer. It is much more about taking responsibility again as a society.” From her point of view, the role model effect is very central. “We must not forget that 80 percent of children and young people who commit violence are also victims of violence themselves.”