Criminality

Statistics on reconvictions

In 2016, 26 318 persons were legally convicted to another than unconditional prison sentence or were released from prison. One-third (32.0%) was convicted again in the following four years. The other two-thirds (68.0%) did not commit an offence which resulted in a conviction at court within the follow-up period of four years.

The reconvictions became final in quite a short time after the reference conviction or release from prison in the year 2016. Two-thirds of the persons reconvicted had a reconviction within the first two years.

Analyses show that for most of the persons convicted or released from prison in 2016 the conviction remained a one-off occurrence. 44.7% had no previous and no following conviction. About one in five displayed a longer career before the court: 19.2% already had both a previous conviction and a reconviction within the observation period of four years. Furthermore, previously convicted persons (45.3%) had a significantly higher reconviction rate than persons with no previous conviction history (22.2%).

Please consult our German website for tables and charts containing further information.

Notes

Judicial criminal statistics are based on the criminal records file maintained by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. It classifies final convictions which are handed down by the Austrian courts in accordance with the Austrian Criminal Code or supplementary criminal laws. In the case of proceedings instituted on account of multiple punishable acts, the conviction is classified according to the offence that is decisive in terms of the punishment imposed (“principal offence”). Since 2012 Statistics Austria has been obtaining information on the “principal offence” from the courts. In addition, all convicted offences have been made available for statistical purposes since reporting year 2012.

Because they are based on the criminal records file, judicial crime statistics cannot provide information about judicial outcomes other than convictions or characteristics of crime victims. Statistics on crime victims are available through Police Crime Statistics (see below).

Statistics on reconvictions are based on persons being legally convicted (except for unconditional prison sentences) or released from prison during the base year. The statistics show how many of the persons concerned were convicted again during a given risk period. Until base year 2009 the observation period covered five calendar years, leading to an individual observation period of four to five years depending on the exact date of the conviction/release. Since base year 2010 every person has been individually observed over a period of exactly four years.

Crimes recorded by the police (Police Crime Statistics)

Criminal statistics of the police authorities encompass all cases notified to the police authorities that, in being dealt with, are suspected to constitute a punishable act according to the Austrian Criminal Code or supplementary criminal laws (statistics on recorded crimes). They are recorded by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and published on its internet website.