The number of Syrian youths committing crimes in Austria has doubled dramatically in recent years. According to annual statistics from the Ministry of the Interior published last Monday, a total of 534,193 reports were recorded in 2024, an increase of 1-4 percent compared to the previous year.
Particularly striking is the sharp increase in crimes committed by children aged 10 to 14. This has prompted Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) to once again suspend family reunification.
Krone said that in the area of juvenile delinquency, the country has witnessed a sharp increase in crimes committed by suspects aged 10 to 14 – with the number of reports nearly doubling since 2020. According to Dieter Civan, head of the Juvenile Crime Taskforce, 48 percent of the suspects are foreign nationals, with Syrian youth ranking first after Romania and Germany.
Compared to 2015, this represents a "ten percent increase." Compared to last year, the number of reports involving Syrian suspects increased by about 30 percent.
The report indicated that the number of crimes involving children aged 10 to 14 has nearly doubled in the past five years. This clearly shows an increase in the number of Syrian suspects.
Disciplinary Actions
According to the same source, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has established a special task force on juvenile crime to combat the increasing number of crimes committed by young "intensive offenders or regime breakers." These are minors or repeat offenders who commit more than 50 crimes per month. The most active of these have more than 150 criminal charges filed per month. Number 1 has more than 1,200 crimes in total, Number 2 has more than 1,000, and Number 3 has more than 900 reports.
The crimes are mostly property offenses. These include, for example, thefts from cars or vending machines. BKA Director Dieter Szewan believes that greater parental responsibility and involvement is a particularly effective measure.
The Ministry of Interior has adopted comprehensive measures, such as suspending family reunification for Syrian citizens and establishing regular disciplinary procedures for crimes. Additionally, case conferences between the police, judiciary, and youth authorities aim to strengthen parental responsibility.
Fares Al-Rifai - Zaman Al-Wasl
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.