It is not pleasant to talk about it, but necessary.
Science, law enforcement, and psychology all agreed on one issue during this panel discussion: we face major challenges in addressing the increase in child sexual abuse cases online.
Analog, by human hand, we have long since reached our limits. Only new scientific methods like those of Bernhard Haslhofer can cope with the flood of data. In 2013, there were around 800 proceedings in Austria; in 2022, there were already almost 2,500 proceedings. And this year, in the first third of the year, already 1,500 proceedings took place, explains prosecutor Cornelia Koller. Therefore, we need some changes in society, but we also need to break new ground legally.
Another alarming trend concerns the age of offenders, who are becoming younger and younger and are increasingly under the age of criminal responsibility, i.e. under the age of 14, as Doris Koglbauer knows from her work as a psychotherapist at Limes.
In any case, remaining silent about this uncomfortable topic will not bring a solution.
Many thanks to Cornelia Koller, Doris Koglbauer and Bernhard Haslhofer for the exciting discussion at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna and the insights from very different areas connected by a common challenge.