Crime in Austria: Statistics Are Distorted According to Social Scientist

The state of crime in Austria may be better than often reported. According to data from Statistics Austria, convictions in the country have significantly decreased since the beginning of the century. In 2001, 38,763 offenders were convicted, while last year it was 27,717 - almost a third less. Meanwhile, the population has grown by about 1.1 million. On the other hand, the number of suspects in the police crime statistics has increased.

The reason for this discrepancy is an inaccurate definition of suspects, explained social scientist Günther Ogris from "dema!nstitut" on Thursday to journalists. The Ministry of the Interior would count serial offenders multiple times. "If someone was caught two or three times, it means several suspects." Additionally, for Ogris, the police multiple counting introduced in 2018 is an "index number" composed of various factors such as offenders, criminal acts, and victims. "It is not the number of suspects."

Statistician Points to Inaccuracies in Crime Representation

A single crime can also violate multiple laws - thus representing multiple offenses. Particularly drastic, Vienna's youth crime would highlight such distortions. Of 9,522 juvenile suspects last year, about a third of the cases were attributed to just three individual repeat offenders. "So if three people are 32 percent of all suspects, then there is really a problem with the representation."

Crime is often a top topic in election research, according to statistician Ogris. However, this strongly depends on "how much it is discussed in the media." The peak of judicial statistics after World War II was in 1959 with 123,222 convicted offenders. The biggest drop was after 2000 due to the introduction of adult diversion, i.e., the possibility of out-of-court settlement.

New Technologies Find More Offenders

In fact, the police are more efficient in their work than ever. While the clearance rate for reports was just under 40 percent on average between 2003 and 2009, since 2017 about half of the offenders have been found. In 2024, the clearance rate was 52.9 percent. This is thanks to new technologies, such as location data analysis, facial recognition, or DNA analysis.

In the statistics on foreign suspects, statistician Ogris also wishes for more accuracy: "In principle, the number of foreigners is increasing, the proportion of convicted foreigners is decreasing." The number of convicted foreigners has decreased from 14,000 in 2001 to 12,700. It must be noted that foreign suspects often do not have a residence in Austria - such as tourists or transients. In 2023, this accounted for 17 percent of the total statistics. Among offenders from Germany, 42.1 percent did not live in Austria. Conversely, offenders from Afghanistan or Syria predominantly have an Austrian residence.

(APA/Red)

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