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Girl (16) sentenced for classroom stabbing

A 16-year-old girl from Styria who stabbed a classmate in the stomach when she was 14 has been given a three year part-custodial sentence for attempted murder.

Published: 3 October 2014 12:24 CEST

Girl (16) sentenced for classroom stabbing

The girl in court in Leoben, Styria. Photo: APA/Gubisch

Her lawyer argued that she acted in self-defence but after hearing from the witnesses none of the eight jurors agreed. The vote was five to three for attempted murder. The defence team plan to appeal the sentence.

The judge ruled that the 16-year-old must serve one year of her sentence in prison, and she has already spent three months of that in pre-trial detention. The remainder of her sentence can be conditional providing that she is on probation and continues with her education. She was also ordered to pay €1,000 compensation to her victim, who suffered serious injuries as a result of the stabbing.

This is the second time the case has come to trial. Initially the girl, then only 14, was charged with intentional aggravated assault. Based on the information available the judge ruled that she was not responsible – but the case was later handed over to be tried by jury.

The accused had started a new school shortly before the incident in May 2013, due to "disciplinary reasons", and she had problems with some of her new classmates, including the victim.

A month-long dispute involving insults, bullying and threats on social networking sites ended when the girl brought a knife to school with her. When one of the boys put her in a headlock she stabbed him. The prosecution said that her response was not self-defence as it was disproportionate and she had obviously meant to harm him as she had brought the knife to school after being threatened on Facebook.

The defence argued that the boy had kicked the girl in the stomach and then jumped on her chair and grabbed her in a headlock – and that she feared he was going to choke her to death.

The victim refused to testify before the judge but in police interviews he had admitted that he had written death threats to the girl but that he had never been serious.

Psychiatric experts testified that the 16-year-old girl had a "social behaviour disorder" and was unable to fit in at school.

She is currently living with her grandparents and continuing her education at home.

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Are there 'young gangs' forming in Vienna?

Austrian tabloid media jumps on such stories: a group of teenage girls breaking into cars in Linz or vandalism and robberies committed by young people in Vienna. Particularly in the capital, it seems that there was a rise in crimes committed by groups of young people. But does that mean that Vienna has a gang problem?

According to the newspaper daily Der Standard, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate (LPD) repeatedly states that the much-cited youth gangs do not exist but that there is “an increase in young people appearing in groups and committing offences”.

What does that mean, and what is the difference between “young people appearing in groups and committing offences” and gangs?

According to the police: “The term gang is commonly used in everyday language – without a precise definition in this context. In criminal law, however, the term is clearly defined. From a criminal law perspective, a gang is an organised, hierarchically structured group of people intent on committing offences on an ongoing basis.”

READ ALSO: Which crimes are on the rise in Austria?

According to the police, they are dealing with “groups that come together spontaneously” and are not “hierarchically organised.” These groups mostly commit “thefts or minor robberies” but are not criminal organisations.

So, technically, Vienna does not have a “youth gang” problem, but it does have an increase in young people in groups committing crimes – though the police didn’t share official numbers.

A recent Kurier report stated that the number of crimes committed by young people and children under the age of 14 has doubled in the last ten years.

At the same time, there has only been a slight increase among young people over the age of 14 and even a decrease among young adults. The main crimes committed by young people and adolescents are theft, damage to property, assault, burglary and dangerous threats.

Christian Holzhacker, Head of Education at the Association of Viennese Youth Centers, told Der Standard that it is important not to “stigmatise” an age group and that the word gang is often used in an “inflationary way”. He points out that in relation to the size of the Viennese population, the number of minors committing crimes is small, even if it is increasing.

He also highlighted that stigmatising regions or groups of young people who get together in public spaces is not the answer. “If you want to fight crime, you have to look at the realities of the lives of the people who have committed crimes,” he said.

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

What are the police doing about the crime?

Austria’s federal criminal police office has gathered a new special task force to combat youth crime (EJK). According to the Ministry of the Interior, the idea is to recognise the new phenomenon and combat youth gangs in Austria.

The task force is set to carry out checks in public spaces, particularly in urban areas and “potential hotspots”, Kurier reported.

The task force also set up a “panel of experts” to suggest how parents can be more responsible, how children’s use of social media and cell phones can be improved, and how the asylum system can better accommodate young migrants.

However, Dieter Csefan, head of the task force, told Die Presse that most young offenders were born in Austria.

“There are unaccompanied minors, but the young people we meet in the groups and gangs usually have parents. And the prolific offenders often come from a normal home. They can also be native Austrians. So it’s not always just Afghans or Syrians”, he said.

He also mentioned that “lowering the age of criminal responsibility is one suggestion” to fight crime. Currently, the age is set at 18, but there are discussions and proposals to lower it to twelve. However, “that alone is not necessarily enough”, he added.

READ NEXT: Which parts of Austria have the highest crime rates?

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