1973: Penal Reform

In the 1970s, Austrian criminal law underwent a fundamental reform: this was based on a decades-long process of discussion that only became intensely politicised in the 1960s, however. The focus of attention was primarily on themes that touched on moral issues. The small criminal law reform (Criminal Law Amendment Act 1971, Federal Law Gazette 273/1971) decriminalised, for example, sexual relations with a married person, adultery in part and homosexual acts between adults.

The major penal code reform of 1973 that entered into effect on January 1, 1975, was the subject of heated debate, particularly with regard to the law allowing termination of a pregnancy in the first three months (Fristenlösung). Overall, the new penal code was no longer based on retributive (biblical) principles, but increasingly on punishment as a means of prevention. Furthermore, under the slogan “social criminal law”, the new penal code, among others things, repealed earlier possible increases in the severity of a penalty, introduced probationary services as a rehabilitation measure, and created special facilities for “mentally abnormal offenders”.