Protection of Sexual Integrity

The study evaluated two regulations in sexual criminal law that came into force on January 1, 2016:

• Section 218 (1) (1a) CC criminalizes the intensive touching of a body part belonging to the sexual sphere that violates the victim’s dignity; and
• Section 205a CC defines sexual acts against the will of the other person by taking advantage of a coercive situation or by intimidation as a ‘violation of sexual self-determination’.

Firstly, the study evaluated files from public prosecutors' offices and courts in two Austrian districts quantitatively; secondly, court proceedings and, in particular, factors influencing court decisions were analyzed in more detail. Expert interviews rounded off the results of the survey.

At this point, one specific result should be singled out as a key finding. A large number of prosecutors and judges always emphasize the victims’ lack of willingness to testify against the perpetrators and criticize their lack of support for law enforcement. Nevertheless, in this comprehensive survey the proportion of women who testified against the suspect both when filing charges and in court was very high–in other words, the perception of prosecutors and judges in this regard is apparently often distorted.