According to reports, the negotiations between Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) and the ÖVP are already well advanced, government circles told the APA. Graduation should be imminent. The focus is on the so-called accommodation requirements – i.e. when preventive, deprivation of liberty measures may be taken against certain perpetrators.
Austria’s current system of enforcement of measures dates back to the 1970s, when accommodation in “institutions for mentally abnormal offenders” was introduced. After a lot of criticism, a sharp increase in the number of people housed in this way and convictions by the European Court of Human Rights, a corresponding draft was sent for assessment last year.
The enforcement of measures (officially: “preventive measures associated with deprivation of liberty”) is intended to prevent an otherwise probable commission of further criminal acts by the convicted person in addition to or in addition to the sentence imposed. For example, dangerous offenders or persons who cannot be convicted due to lack of criminal responsibility or dangerous repeat offenders can be imprisoned.
The current regulations have been criticized for the fact that more and more people have been placed in prison for so-called less serious offenses – such as coercion. In 2010, for the first time, they represented the largest group of inmates. That is about to change.
In the previous year’s draft assessment, the penalty thresholds for the original offense were increased (with exceptions if the perpetrator was highly dangerous). For example, only those mentally ill people who need it because of their dangerousness should be admitted to the measures – the others should be treated in the regular health care system.
Source: Nachrichten
