Member for

3 years 5 months
Year
Report data for country
Cases Perpetrators were Sentenced
184
Cases Prosecuted
4,304
Cases Recorded by Police
5,464
Explanation to the total figures recorded
Police records represent the number of offences recorded as hate crimes; a total number of 6,619 cases were registered, some of which involved more than one bias motivation. Police-recorded hate crimes include 964 offences understood as "right-wing extremism" under the Prohibition Act or classified as insults or honour crimes, and may fall outside of the OSCE definition of hate crime. Prosecution and sentencing figures are based on the same recording methodology as police-recorded figures, and may therefore also include offences that fall outside of the OSCE definition of hate crime.
Bias motivations and crime types
Mandated bias motivation
Crime types figures
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
439
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
4
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
256
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
27
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
306
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
1
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
9
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
297
Cases Recorded by Police
372
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
709
Explanation to the total figures recorded
This category includes offences under the Prohibition Act, or classified as insults or honour crimes and may fall outside of the OSCE definition of hate crime.
Mandated bias motivation
Crime types figures
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
9
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
32
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
5
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
46
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
2
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
40
Cases Recorded by Police
12
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
155
Mandated bias motivation
Crime types figures
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
69
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
1
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
43
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
47
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
1
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
3
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
45
Cases Recorded by Police
74
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
18
Mandated bias motivation
Crime types figures
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
16
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
2
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
13
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
71
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
2
Cases Recorded by Police
1
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
13
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
29
Cases Recorded by Police
18
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
4
Crime types figures
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
6
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
13
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
3
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
7
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
2
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
7
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
1
Mandated bias motivation
Crime types figures
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
1
Explanation to the total figures recorded
This category excludes attempted intentional murder.
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
58
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
38
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
13
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
3
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
16
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
1
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
15
Cases Recorded by Police
70
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
18
Mandated bias motivation
Crime types figures
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
108
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
2
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
26
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
40
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
72
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
1
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
70
Cases Recorded by Police
83
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
34
Mandated bias motivation
Crime types figures
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
38
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
2
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
54
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
30
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
31
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
31
Cases Recorded by Police
35
Type of Crime
Cases Recorded by Police
25
NPC
Description Type
Developments
Organization Report

Following the launch of the new electronic recording and data collection mechanism in November 2020, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) continued training police officers on hate crime via a three-module e-learning course delivered through the e-Campus of the Police Training Academy (Sicherheitsakademie, SIAK). As of 10 May 2021, a total of 22,788 police officers had completed the course. In addition, 200 police officers from the Federal Provinces were trained to deliver training events to front-line officers and to serve as contact points for CSOs and victim support organizations. In May 2021, an additional module was launched for prosecutors and judges. 

In 2021, the MoI developed a factsheet on hate crime, which was translated into nine languages. Together with the Institute for the Sociology of Law and Criminology (Institut für Rechts- und Kriminalsoziologie, IRKS), the MoI conducted a hate crime victimization survey on unreported cases via 2,325 telephone interviews. Nearly 4 per cent of respondents reported being a victim of a hate crime. The survey also found that the security perception of hate crime victims was significantly worse than that of victims of crimes committed without a bias motive. The likelihood of victims reporting hate crimes was found to be far lower compared to crimes committed without a bias motive. In June 2021, the survey results were published in a Pilot Report on "Hate Crime in Austria", which maps the improvements in hate crime recording and data collection in Austria since 2019.  

 

Notable cases

Case 1: Graz, October 2021: A person in a wheelchair was hit over the head with a beer can, threatened with death ("I kill you, then you do not need a wheelchair anymore") and had their wheelchair kicked by a known perpetrator. The police registered the case as a hate crime against persons with disabilities. 

Case 2: Vienna, May 2021: A person was repeatedly subjected to racist insults, kicked and knocked to the ground. The police registered the case as a hate crime under the categories "ethnic origin" and "skin colour". 

Case 3: Vienna, May 2021: A young female student was reading a book titled "The Jews in the Modern world" on the metro. The victim was then subjected to anti-Semitic and misogynistic threats and insults and had her hair pulled by several men. At the next stop, the victim asked two police officers for help, but was told to forget the incident as she is not Jewish. The case was extensively covered by national media networks, including the national radio. Consequently, the Viennese Police apologized and filed the case. However, as the video surveillance footage had already been deleted, the perpetrators could not be found. The case significantly strengthened public awareness of hate crime and anti-Semitism, including in Germany. See, for example, the following reports: https://wien.orf.at/stories/3107040/; https://www.juedischeallgemeine.de/juedische-welt/attacke-in-der-wiener-u-bahn/; https://www.krone.at/2424508; and https://www.rtl.de/cms/wien-19-jaehrige-studentin-antisemitischbeleidigt-weil-sie-ein-buch-ueber-juden-liest-4770023.html

Description Type
Reports
Organization Report

This category includes hate crimes registered under the categories of bias against "ethnic/national origin" and/or "skin colour". Anti-Roma hate crimes are also included under this category. 

Bias motivation
Description Type
Reports
Organization Report

This category includes both hate crimes based on bias against sexual orientation (372) and hate crimes based on bias against gender identity (64) but the two categories were reported on separately. 

NGO
Overview of incidents
IGO
Organization Name
Description Type
Developments
Organization Report

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights published relevant recommendations in its "Commissioner For Human Rights of the Council Of Europe Dunja Mijatović: Report Following Her Visit To Austria from 13 To 17 December 2021".

Holy See
ODIHR Recommendations

ODIHR recognizes Austria's long-term efforts to improve its hate crime recording and data collection mechanism, leading to a significant increase in the number of recorded and prosecuted hate crimes. However, based on the available information, it observes that Austria's hate crime recording and statistics do not sufficiently distinguish hate crimes from other crimes. In addition, ODIHR observes that Austria would benefit from raising awareness among and building the capacity of criminal justice officials, especially prosecutors, to address hate crime. 

ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, participating States agreed to a common definition of hate crime and committed to collecting reliable data and statistics on such crimes. To that end, hate crimes need to be distinguished throughout the recording and data collection processes from incitement to hatred and other hate speech. Participating States have also committed to introducing or further developing professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes. ODIHR stands ready to support Austria in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance, including further resources and tailored capacity-building assistance for police, prosecution and judiciary


Our methodology