New program to prevent juvenile crimes through sexting!

New program to prevent juvenile crimes through sexting!

An innovative program to prevent young people from the legal consequences of sexualized content has proven its effectiveness in its first year. According to a report by 5min.at A total of 127 young people, including 20 between the ages of 14 and 16, were accepted into the probation service association Neustart's “sicher.net” program after they came into conflict with the law due to the possession of child abuse images. The majority of clients came from Upper Austria, while Vorarlberg and Tyrol had the lowest numbers.

Goals and content of the program

The six-month program aims to prevent convictions as sex offenders, as such sentences can have far-reaching consequences. Intensive individual and group sessions were offered to educate young people about the legal framework, particularly with regard to “sexting” – the sending of sexually explicit messages or images via mobile messaging services. Thomas Marecek, spokesman for Neustart, emphasizes that many young people are often not even aware that they can commit a criminal offense by owning certain images.

So far, 50 percent of the young people have been assigned as part of a diversion, while the other half were accepted into the program after a conviction, for example for violations of the Prohibition or Narcotic Drugs Act. The program trains participants in media literacy and how to deal with pornography in order to make them aware of the legal consequences of their behavior. How salzburg.ORF.at reported, the positive interim results of the initiative show that the knowledge that the young people acquire in the program is also disseminated among their friend groups.