An alarming development is taking place in the Austrian capital: more and more young criminals are becoming involved in drug crimes. This shows the latest BMI data for the period January to December 2022.
The dramatic increase in drug crimes among youth under 18 is particularly alarming. Cases here increased by 33.8 percent – there were 187 additional crimes in 2021 compared to the previous year. An increase of 13.5 percent (124 additional cases) was recorded among suspects in the age group of 18 to 20 years. There was also a significant increase in the group of 21 to 24 year old offenders (plus 8.6 percent corresponds to 110 additional cases).
Older age groups, on the other hand, saw slight declines: drug offenders aged 25 to 39 and offenders over 40 declined by 7.6 and 8.4 percent, respectively. For unknown offenders, the number increases by 20.7 percent (171 cases).
Overall, the number of drug crimes in Vienna increased by 95 cases from 2021 to 2022, an increase of 1.0 percent.
Vienna ÖVP MP Laura Saxlehner (29) drew attention to this development on Twitter. She puts it bluntly: “While the city of Vienna invests huge amounts of tax money in promiscuous youth centres, the rate of drug crime among youth is increasing dramatically. The work of youth has failed in this city.”
