Probation Assistance and Instructions
24.11.2025
Probation Assistance and Instructions Sections 50, 51, and 52 of the Criminal Code (StGB) regulate how courts accompany probation: They order probation assistance according to Section 50 of the Criminal …
Probation Period
24.11.2025
Probation Period Sections 48 and 49 of the Criminal Code (StGB) govern the duration of a probation period, when it commences, and how it proceeds when multiple decisions coincide. Section …
Conditional Release
24.11.2025
Bedingte Strafnachsicht Sections 46 and 47 of the Criminal Code regulate the possibility of early termination of a custodial sentence or a measure involving deprivation of liberty under certain conditions. …
Bedingte Strafnachsicht
24.11.2025
Bedingte Strafnachsicht Sections 43 to 45 StGB regulate the conditional remission of sentence and enable the court to fully or partially suspend the execution of an imposed sentence if it …
Extraordinary Mitigation of Penalty for Cooperation with Law Enforcement Authorities
24.11.2025
Extraordinary Mitigation of Penalty for Cooperation with Law Enforcement Authorities Section 41a of the German Criminal Code governs the extraordinary mitigation of penalty if an accused or convicted person makes …
Extraordinary Sentence Mitigation where Mitigating Circumstances Prevail
24.11.2025
Extraordinary Sentence Mitigation where Mitigating Circumstances Prevail The extraordinary sentence mitigation under § 41 StGB allows the court in rare cases to significantly fall below the statutory minimum sentence. This …
Sentencing for Subsequent Conviction
24.11.2025
Sentencing for Subsequent Conviction The regulation on sentencing in the event of a subsequent conviction explains how a court proceeds when someone is subsequently convicted for another offense. The court …
Amendment to Penalties for Certain Violent Crimes
24.11.2025
Amendment to Penalties for Certain Violent Crimes The provision in Section 39a of the Criminal Code mandatorily increases the legal minimum penalty if an intentional violent act was committed under …
Sentence Enhancement for Recidivism
24.11.2025
Sentence Enhancement for Recidivism Section 39 of the Criminal Code regulates sentence enhancement for qualified recidivism. The law requires that the offender has already incurred two previous convictions for offenses …
Crediting of Pre-Trial Detention
24.11.2025
Crediting of Pre-Trial Detention § 38 StGB obliges the court to credit periods of detention that a person has spent prior to final conviction against the imposed sentence. This includes …
Imposition of Fines Instead of Imprisonment
24.11.2025
Imposition of Fines Instead of Imprisonment The law allows courts to impose a fine if imprisonment is not absolutely necessary. This is to prevent people from being imprisoned for less …
Imposition of Custodial Sentences on Persons under Twenty-One Years of Age
24.11.2025
Imposition of Custodial Sentences on Persons under Twenty-One Years of Age Section 36 of the Criminal Code regulates the imposition of custodial sentences on young adults who had not yet …
Sentencing in Cases of Intoxication
24.11.2025
Sentencing in Cases of Intoxication Intoxication can influence a perpetrator’s capacity for guilt without completely excluding it. In such cases, the court examines whether and to what extent the state …
Special Mitigating Circumstances in Sentencing
24.11.2025 | Criminal law
Special Mitigating Circumstances in Sentencing Special mitigating circumstances are factors that indicate that individual culpability is less severe, even though a criminal act has occurred. They concern the person, the …
Special Aggravating Circumstances in Sentencing
24.11.2025
Special Aggravating Circumstances in Sentencing § 33 StGB lists special aggravating circumstances that can increase the sentence. These circumstances show that the act has a higher degree of guilt, recklessness, …
General Principles of Sentencing
24.11.2025
General Principles of Sentencing § 32 StGB contains the principles of sentencing in Austrian criminal law. It specifies the constitutional principle of guilt and forms the bridge between the abstract …
Aggregation of Values and Amounts of Damage
24.11.2025
Aggregation of Values and Amounts of Damage If a perpetrator commits several similar offenses, the punishability of which depends on a certain monetary value or damage, § 29 StGB stipulates …
Concurrence of Criminal Acts
24.11.2025
Concurrence of Criminal Acts When a person commits several offenses through multiple acts or with a single act, this is referred to as concurrence. § 28 StGB stipulates how the …
Confiscation
24.11.2025
Confiscation § 26 StGB orders a measure of hazard prevention. The court seizes the object, not the person: it removes tools and products of the crime if their special condition …
Forfeiture and Extended Forfeiture
24.11.2025
Forfeiture and Extended Forfeiture Forfeiture and extended forfeiture under §§ 20 to 20c of the Criminal Code are measures for the confiscation of assets in Austrian criminal law. They aim …
Confiscation
24.11.2025
Confiscation Confiscation under § 19a StGB is a measure of Austrian criminal law, whereby objects connected to an intentional criminal offense are permanently seized. It is not a punishment, but …
Imprisonment
24.11.2025 | Criminal law
Imprisonment The custodial sentence under § 18 StGB is the most severe form of punishment in Austrian criminal law. It means that the convicted person is deprived of their personal …
Fine
24.11.2025
Fine The fine according to Section 19 of the Criminal Code is the most frequently imposed penalty in Austria. Its purpose is to financially impact offenders without depriving them of …
Withdrawal from Attempt
24.11.2025
Withdrawal from Attempt Withdrawal from the attempt according to § 16 StGB means that someone who has already begun to carry out a criminal offense, under certain conditions, remains unpunished …
Criminal Liability of Attempt
24.11.2025
Criminal Liability of Attempt A criminally liable attempt according to § 15 StGB exists when someone, with intent, seeks to commit a criminal offense and has already directly commenced the …
Treatment of all Parties Involved as Perpetrators
24.11.2025
Treatment of all Parties Involved as Perpetrators § 12 StGB stipulates that not only the person who directly commits a criminal offense is a perpetrator. Persons who induce others to …
Exculpatory Necessity
24.11.2025
Exculpatory Necessity Exculpatory necessity according to § 10 of the Criminal Code is a ground for the exclusion of culpability. It exists when someone commits a criminal offense in an …
Legal Error
24.11.2025
Legal Error § 9 StGB deals with the legal error. A legal error exists if someone acts consciously but believes that their behavior is lawful. So, they are mistaken not …
Erroneous Assumption of Justifying Circumstances
24.11.2025
Erroneous Assumption of Justifying Circumstances Section 8 of the Criminal Code addresses cases where an individual mistakenly believes they are acting in a justifying situation, such as self-defense. Objectively, however, …
Criminal Liability for Intentional and Negligent Acts
24.11.2025
Criminal Liability for Intentional and Negligent Acts Austrian criminal law distinguishes between intentional and negligent acts. The following generally applies: A criminal offense requires intent. Only in exceptional cases, if …
