A noticeably increasing workload is expected in connection with the required written seizure and subsequent evaluation, it was emphasized in a press conference on Thursday.

Fewer "Incidental Findings"?

Head of the authority Barbara Haider reminded of the stricter necessity and proportionality review by the prosecution and also of the necessary judicial approval. Affected data categories and contents, time periods, and purposes must be specified in advance. While it is to be welcomed that data irrelevant to a procedure should be excluded, as a mobile phone is now something like a "second life," Haider said. On the other hand, it is to be expected that "incidental findings" will decrease.

This latter point is likely to have an impact, especially in the area of juvenile suspects, where during investigations for other offenses, Islamist, National Socialist, or child pornographic content has repeatedly been discovered when reviewing data. The head of the authority emphasized that the workload of the courts, the public prosecutor's offices, and the criminal police will increase.

Age for Criminal Responsibility

The discussion about lowering the age of criminal responsibility to twelve years is also being observed with regard to a possible increase in workload, said media spokesperson First Prosecutor Erich Habitzl. Should the legislator decide to do so, criminal proceedings against juveniles would "rapidly increase." At the Wiener Neustadt authority, it is assumed that in this case, there would be an increase of one third.

Habitzl positively noted that a newly created position as part of the judiciary's cybercrime offensive had now been filled by the end of 2024. A "career changer" from the legal profession had been recruited. The Wiener Neustadt authority thus started the new business year "fully staffed" with 15 prosecutors.

According to Barbara Haider, there is a decline in the security authority case conferences. While there were 18 in 2022 and 13 the following year, only eight were recently referred to the Wiener Neustadt public prosecutor's office. From the authority's perspective, a standardized decision-making tool developed with the involvement of all stakeholders would be desirable to facilitate the identification of "high-risk cases."

More Extradition and Transfer Procedures

According to prosecutor Silke Pernsteiner, there were 4,056 cases (2023: 4,100) involving crimes under the jurisdiction of the regional court last year. A slight decline was also noted at the district courts with 13,834 (2023: 14,148) cases. Extradition and transfer procedures more than doubled from 13 to 29. Increases in 2024 were also noted in the issuance of European arrest warrants (58 compared to 45 the previous year), house searches (from 228 to 234), arrest orders (from 209 to 255), seizures (207 compared to 199), and legal assistance measures requested abroad (from 55 to 65), said Pernsteiner.

According to the prosecutor, 4,133 cases against known offenders under the jurisdiction of the regional court were completed. In 2023, there were 4,064. With 178 indictments and 966 criminal applications, more were filed than in the previous year.

(APA/Red)

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