Wallner demands alternative after minister rejects lower criminal age

Vorarlberg Governor Markus Wallner has called on Justice Minister Anna Sporrer to present a practical alternative after she rejected lowering Austria’s age of criminal responsibility, ORF reports.

Wallner renewed his proposal to lower the age from 14 to 12 during an ORF interview on Sunday. He said the measure had been impossible under the previous coalition of the conservative People’s Party and the Greens.

Sporrer’s office said a lower age of criminal responsibility was not included in the government programme. The minister supports keeping the minimum age at 14, saying children should be educated rather than imprisoned. She is working on a legal basis to allow children below the age of criminal responsibility who commit offences to be placed in socio-educational residential communities.

Wallner said on Wednesday that rejecting a lower age did not solve the problem. When very young people commit serious offences or are deliberately used by adults to carry out crimes, he said, the rule of law must be able to act. “Looking away until a child’s 14th birthday is not an adequate answer for me,” he said.

Wallner said he was not proposing that children be sent to prison. Instead, he called for a graduated youth justice system that would allow earlier intervention, require accountability and enable court-ordered educational, therapeutic or care measures. He said prevention and consequences were both needed and asked Sporrer for a concrete, workable alternative.

The Swiss model cited by Wallner applies youth criminal law from age 10, but prioritises protective measures over punishment. Children aged 10 to 14 can go through formal proceedings, including a court admonition, but cannot be imprisoned. Custodial sentences are possible from age 15.

In Vorarlberg, reports to police involving children aged 10 to 14 rose from 462 in 2024 to 498 in 2025. Police say the figure is at a similar level so far this year. Most offences, usually thefts and burglaries, are attributed to a small group: five children accounted for about a third of all reports involving children below the age of criminal responsibility in 2024.

Experts are divided. Forensic psychiatrist Reinhard Haller supports lowering the age to 12, but says necessary facilities, including secure residential communities, must first be available. Children’s and Youth Ombudsman Christian Netzer opposes the change and says it is necessary to consider what criminal law can achieve that a functioning child and youth welfare system cannot. Currently, reports about offences by children under 14 go to child and youth welfare services and the guardianship court, which can order educational support or placement in supervised accommodation.