Polygraph in Austria

"The legal classifi cation of polygraph use in Austrian criminal courts was established almost 50 years ago. It was based on the permanent judiciary practice of the Supreme Court from the 1960s on – that the use of polygraphs during any part of a criminal procedure is not allowed. This article will provide a short review of this practice of the Supreme Court, followed by a discussion on the positions taken in the literature as well as general dogmatic considerations about the rules laid out in the Austrian code of criminal procedure."(...

European sourcebook of crime and criminal justice statistics – 2021

This is the sixth edition of a data collection initiative that started in 1993 under the umbrella of the Council of Europe and has been continued since 2000 by an international group of experts that created the European Sourcebook of Criminal Justice e.V.1 and is also a Working Group of the European Society of Criminology. These experts act as regional coordinators of a network of national correspondents whose contribution has been decisive in collecting and validating data on a variety of subjects from 42 countries.2 This edition of the Sourcebook is composed of six chapters. The first five cover the current main types of national crime and criminal justice statistics – police, prosecution, conviction, prison, and probation statistics – for the years 2011 to 2016, providing detailed analysis for 2015. The sixth chapter covers national victimization surveys, providing rates for the main indicators every five years from 1990 to 2015. As with every new edition of the Sourcebook, the group has tried to improve data quality as well as comparability and, where appropriate, increase the scope of data collection. For example, offence definitions were updated to reflect the lessons learned from previous editions.peer-reviewe

Die Selbstdarstellung in Bewerbungsschreiben

Mit Hilfe einer Inhaltsanalyse wurde anhand von Bewerbungsunterlagen (Motivationsschreiben, Lebensläufen) untersucht, wie sich Personen im Rahmen einer Bewerbung selbst darstellen. Besonderes Augenmerk wurde auf mögliche Unterschiede zwischen Frauen und Männern einerseits und zwischen Absolventinnen und Absolventen der Studienrichtungen „Rechtswissenschaften“ und „Psychologie“ andererseits gelegt. Untersucht wurden Unterschiede in Bezug auf die Länge und den Aufbau der Unterlagen, sowie den Inhalt der Bewerbung und die verwendeten Selbstdarstellungstechniken. Hier lassen sich eindeutige Unterschiede sowohl zwischen den Geschlechtern als auch zwischen den Professionen erkennen. Berücksichtigt man gleichzeitig den Einfluss des Geschlechtes und der Profession, ergibt sich ein noch weiter differenziertes Bild. Weiters wurden die Bewerbungsschreiben dahingehend untersucht, welche Stärken und Schwächen sich die Bewerberin oder der Bewerber selbst zuschreibt. Schließlich wurden Interviews mit personalverantwortlichen Frauen und Männern aus den beiden Professionen durchgeführt. Auch hier zeigte sich klar, dass große Unterschiede zwischen den Branchen bestehen. Von allen Interviewpartnerinnen und -partnern wurde angegeben, dass das Geschlecht eine wesentliche Rolle im Bewerbungsprozess spielt und sich auf die Entscheidung für oder gegen eine Kandidatin oder einen Kandidaten massiv auswirkt, wenn auch in den beiden Professionen aus verschiedenen Gründen

Avoiding Recidivism of Mentally Ill Perpetrators: Results from an Empirical Study within the Austrian Penitentiary System

Since the year 2000, the number of people who relapsed into crime after having been released from a custodial measure regulated by § 21 para. 2 ACC declined. This study examines the changes and developments leading to this decrease. Quantitative as well as qualitative methods were applied. Two groups were formed, one consisting of former detainees released in the years 2000 and 2001, the other of the former offenders released in 2010 and 2011. A wide-ranging analysis of court and prison files was carried out. Subsequently, qualitative interviews about the result were conducted with judges, prison governors, a parole officer, a psychiatric expert, and representatives of a care center. The data showed that the decline of the return rate can be traced back to improvements in the expert’s assessment as well as the treatment offered in prison and beyond: for example, detainees released in 2010 or 2011 had gone through a greater number of temporary interruptions of their custody. Furthermore, the courts changed their handling of accompanying measures imposed on the offenders at the time of their release. Especially changes in the treatment of sexual offenders were observed. The data also revealed that the quality of the expert reports assessing the recidivism risk had improved significantly. At the same time, certain areas of improvement were discovered.Since the year 2000, the number of people who relapsed into crime after having been released from a custodial measure regulated by § 21 para. 2 ACC declined. This study examines the changes and developments leading to this decrease. Quantitative as well as qualitative methods were applied. Two groups were formed, one consisting of former detainees released in the years 2000 and 2001, the other of the former offenders released in 2010 and 2011. A wide-ranging analysis of court and prison files was carried out. Subsequently, qualitative interviews about the result were conducted with judges, prison governors, a parole officer, a psychiatric expert, and representatives of a care center. The data showed that the decline of the return rate can be traced back to improvements in the expert’s assessment as well as the treatment offered in prison and beyond: for example, detainees released in 2010 or 2011 had gone through a greater number of temporary interruptions of their custody. Furthermore, the courts changed their handling of accompanying measures imposed on the offenders at the time of their release. Especially changes in the treatment of sexual offenders were observed. The data also revealed that the quality of the expert reports assessing the recidivism risk had improved significantly. At the same time, certain areas of improvement were discovered