New Vienna Deputy Police Chief Calls for Increased Cooperation Against Youth Crime

"The most important thing for children who have committed offenses is that they experience a sanction." This was stated by Dieter Csefan, the new Vice President of the Vienna State Police, in an interview with APA. Since last year, Csefan has been the head of the task force to combat youth crime (EJK) and the head of the interministerial working group on youth crime: roles that will continue to accompany him in his new position. "I was asked to continue this role."

"Much of what comes before is not our responsibility"

The biggest challenge currently facing the police in Vienna is indeed child and youth crime: "The issue remains with me," said Csefan. For him, it is clear that the problem cannot be solved with police measures alone. "When we arrive, it's too late because a crime has already occurred. And much of what comes before is actually not our responsibility," he said.

Not least for this reason, the top Viennese official advocated for intensive, regular, and permanent networking of all stakeholders in the area. "So that when we pick up a child who has committed an offense on the street, there is an exchange of information with the stakeholders. If it is then recognized that the child is on the wrong path and is only going downhill, and could become a threshold offender, then an intensive offender, and then a system breaker, the respective organizations must intervene and try to stop the development."

Sanctions for Offending Children Necessary

The issue also became a political matter last year during the National Council elections, as there were demands to lower the age of criminal responsibility to twelve years. Csefan views this skeptically, but the expert group has reached a conclusion: "The most important thing is that children who engage in criminal behavior experience a sanction. What that looks like needs to be considered in detail. It is also the case that children who have committed offenses in countries where the age of criminal responsibility is lowered or, as with us, is under 14 years, do not actually end up in prison but in a facility."

Ministry of Justice Examines Possible Facility

Currently, there is a project in the Ministry of Justice examining how accommodation with exit restrictions for these offending children could be made possible. "This means they come to a facility that is not a prison, but they are not allowed to leave, and they are cared for and treated there. They receive a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a social worker, whatever is necessary, and they are not allowed to leave," Csefan described the idea behind it.

According to the Deputy Chief of Police of Vienna, it also needs to be clarified for how many children such facilities would actually need to be planned. "The committed crimes would naturally have to have a certain severity, and the child would also have to have committed a certain number of crimes. No one will be placed after a shoplifting. But just like we have with repeat offenders who commit more than 50 crimes a month and laugh at the police when we arrive, that's exactly what this would be for," explained Csefan. The question of the legal basis is also still open - for example, who should make the decision to commit someone to such a facility. The guardianship courts are being discussed here.

What Happens After is Crucial for Delinquent Children

And ultimately, it is also about the practical implementation: "Just thinking out loud: If they are placed in a location where there is nothing around, where they can't go anywhere, then you don't even need to 'lock them up'. But that's just one possibility that has been considered and looked at in international comparison. Such things are also done by having delinquent children sent on a ship by the judiciary. And then they sail around for three months or six months. But experience has shown that after the three or six months, nothing has changed, except that they were away for three months or six. They return to the same circle of friends," reported Csefan.

Csefan emphasized that placement in such facilities would be the second level of escalation. The first would be networking: that stakeholders such as child and youth services, police representatives, and caregivers sit down with the child, make the consequences of their actions clear to them, and agree on measures such as anti-violence training or drug therapy "or whatever is needed," along with conditions.

No Peculiarities in Nationality, but in Upbringing

"I am often asked whether the delinquent children are of a certain nationality or from a certain nation. I have looked into this: No, they are not. The common denominator they have is that most of them are placed in foster care. They do not have an intact family home, most of the time the parents do not care or often do not know because they are not interested," described Csefan. "As for nationalities: Austrians are still in first place - often children with a migration background -, but we see an increase in Syrian delinquent children and Afghans are in third place."

The frequency with which children in foster care go astray is likely to lead to an amendment to the Residential Care Act. "Because social workers are uncertain and have no legal certainty about whether they can lock children in their rooms - for example, if a twelve-year-old girl leaves the accommodation at two in the morning. As a parent, you wouldn't let the twelve-year-old girl wander around outside at 2:00 a.m.," explained Csefan. "That's why it needs to be regulated, and it is also in the government program to refine this. It serves legal certainty, so they can really lock the facility to ensure the children stay in the accommodation, also for their own protection."

(The conversation was conducted by Gunther Lichtenhofer/APA.)

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.