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CRIME

Rise in criminal complaints made against asylum seekers

New figures from Austria’s interior ministry show that the number of criminal complaints made against asylum seekers has risen sharply. That’s according to statistics released by Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP), in response to a parliamentary question from Rupert Doppler (FPÖ).

Published: 22 November 2016 11:47 CET
Rise in criminal complaints made against asylum seekers

According to the figures (which are raw data which have not yet been subject to quality control), Syrians are less likely to be in conflict with the law, while Afghans, Algerians, Moroccans and Nigerians are more likely to have a run-in with the police.

In Vienna, 730 criminal complaints were made against asylum seekers from Afghanistan last year. This year, there were 960 cases between January and the end of August. For asylum seekers from Algeria, criminal charges in the same period increased from 1,229 to 1,353, and for Nigerians the numbers went up from 1,168 to 1,280. The highest number of criminal complaints against asylum seekers was in the capital, Vienna, followed by Lower Austria. Burgenland had the lowest number.

However, the number of asylum seekers resident in Vienna has also risen sharply since the beginning of last year. At the end of August 2016, 5,618 Afghans, 683 Nigerians and 183 Algerians were living in the capital. In comparison, at the end of August 2015 there were 2,176 Afghans, 443 Nigerians and 64 Algerians. Criminal complaints made against asylum seekers have risen by 38.8 percent since the beginning of 2015.

Most of the offences committed by asylum seekers last year were crimes against property (42,010 cases), followed by charges of bodily harm (23,951).

Interior ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundböck confirmed that the ministry will be changing the law regarding asylum seekers who have committed crimes. “If an asylum seeker is convicted under criminal law, this can lead to them losing their asylum status or being denied asylum. The ministry is also looking to speed up the process of deportation for such cases.”

'Inaccurate picture'

However, Christoph Riedl, an asylum expert for the Diakonie charity criticised the publication of the figures. “Just because the number of criminal charges has risen, this doesn’t automatically mean that asylum seekers are committing more crimes,” he said. “These are figures for criminal complaints and not per capita statistics,” he added. He said that the fact that more police have been deployed since last year means the number of convictions have gone up – but not necessarily the number of crimes.

He added that many of the criminal complaints are for relatively minor offences – such as carrying fake documents. “However, many refugees from Afghanistan have little choice about travelling with fake documents,” Riedl said. “In order to interpret these figures properly, we need to look at the statistics for the number of convictions,” he said. Complete crime statistics for 2016 will not be published until early 2017.

 
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CRIME

Are there ‘young gangs’ forming in Vienna?

If you read Austrian tabloid media, Vienna has a 'gang' problem, with several crimes committed by groups of young people in recent months. But is that true?

Published: 18 April 2024 13:17 CEST
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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