Violent crime in Austria

Abstract

Violent crime is a complex phenomenon that recurrently engages the public, politicians and the media. The aim of this paper is to give an impression of the situation of violent crime in Austria and contribute to the objectification of the discussion. Due to the various different forms of violence, a key issue is the definition of violence. For the purpose of this paper intentional homicide, intentional bodily injury, robbery, rape and sexual assault are subsumed as violent crime. The total number of violent crimes in Austria amounted to roughly 43.000, making up 8% of all crimes reported to the police in 2010. In comparison, 6.400 people were convicted for violent offences in Austria in 2010, making up 17% of all convicted persons. Observing violent crime in Austria from 2002 to 2010, one can see that the number of offenders suspected increased by 9% and the number of persons convicted increased by 8%, while the total number of convicted persons in fact decreased by 7%. Especially an increase of persons found guilty of robbery seems to be responsible for the rise of persons convicted of violent crimes. Despite the lack of regular victim surveys in Austria, data can be found that suggests that not the actual amount of incidents has increased to such an extent, but the likelihood that an incident is reported to the police. Irrespective of whether violent crime has increased over the years, it has become evident that the key in fighting violence is prevention at an early stage. Thus, two prevention programs (Faustlos and WiSK) running in Austria will be presented.