Legal Assistance for Accused and Victims in Austrian Pre-Trial Criminal Proceedings

Alois Birklbauer; Richard Soyer; Christoph Weber

doi:10.4236/blr.2012.34027

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Legal Assistance for Accused and Victims in Austrian Pre-Trial Criminal Proceedings

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DOI: 10.4236/blr.2012.34027 4,005 Downloads 5,966 Views

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Alois Birklbauer, Richard Soyer, Christoph Weber

Affiliation(s)

Faculty of Law, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Linz, Austria..

ABSTRACT

Based on two research projects this paper evaluates the legal assistance for accused and victims in pre-trial criminal proceedings in Austria after the implementation of a revised law on pre-trial proceedings in 2008. The research projects combined legal and empirical research. The project for scientific evaluation of the realization of the criminal procedure reform law (PEUS) analysed approx. 5000 pre-trial files and has additionally conducted 85 interviews with police officers, prosecutors, judges and lawyers. The results of the empirical research provide insight into which extent in practice in Austrian criminal proceedings the accused has access to legal advise. The paper comes to the conclusion that by strengthening victims’ access to legal representation in Austrian criminal proceedings in numerous cases the actual division of power to influence the proceedings has shifted from the accused to the victim.

KEYWORDS

Pre-Trial Criminal Procedure; Legal Assistance; Accused; Victim; Law in Practice

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Cite this paper

A. Birklbauer, R. Soyer and C. Weber, "Legal Assistance for Accused and Victims in Austrian Pre-Trial Criminal Proceedings," Beijing Law Review, Vol. 3 No. 4, 2012, pp. 213-216. doi: 10.4236/blr.2012.34027.

References

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[2]	A. Birklbauer, W. Stangl, R. Soyer, C. Weber, B. Starzer, H. Hirtenlehner, R. Gombots and W. Hammerschick, “Die Rechtspraxis des Ermittlungsverfahrens nach der Strafprozessreform. Eine rechtstats?chliche Untersuchung,” Neuer Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, Vienna and Graz, 2011.

[3]	S. Schumann, K. Bruckmüller, and R. Soyer, “Pre-Trial Emergency Defence,” Neuer Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, Intersentia, Vienna, Graz and Antwerp, 2012.

[4]	S. Schumann, K. Bruckmüller and R. Soyer, “Assessing Pre-Trial Access to Legal Advice—Results of a Comparative Legal and Empirical Study,” New Journal of European Criminal Law, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2012, pp. 31-48.

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