Prison is “not a panacea,” Kodek warned on Saturday in the Ö1 series “Im Journal zu Gast”. “I warn once morest exaggerated expectations; criminal law can only be a small part of the solution, if at all,” said Kodek. The OGH President proposes the appointment of a special prosecutor for proceedings once morest politicians.
In the current debate regarding reducing the age of criminal responsibility, the OGH President urged “caution and prudence”. Consideration should be given to increased support from psychologists, integration consultants and cooperation between many agencies. “Locking them up alone wouldn’t be a solution.” However, conveying values from outside is difficult as a society if they are not conveyed by parents and the social environment, said Kodek, who has been at the head of the OGH since January.
Kodek sees no urgent need for reform when it comes to the right to issue instructions. There is no danger from political instructions: “In the last few years or decades, this has no longer existed,” said the OGH President. According to Kodek, instead of setting up a general prosecutor’s office, it would be worth considering appointing a special prosecutor similar to the one in the USA for the few cases once morest politicians. This is outside the hierarchy of instructions, “all other procedures might be carried out as before”.
Against tightening penalties for climate activists
The OGH president also speaks out once morest toughening penalties for climate activists who block roads and expressed doubts regarding the effectiveness of possible preventive detention for potential terrorists. “I can imagine that if you design this in accordance with fundamental rights, hardly any cases will remain,” said Kodek. According to Austrian law, it is not possible to lock up everyone who is somehow suspicious. Preventive detention would therefore probably be more of a “sedative pill” in the discussion.
Kodek would like to see a reform in the reimbursement of costs for defendants in the event of acquittals, but he did not want to commit to a specific number. “At the moment the reimbursement of costs, or more precisely its inadequacies, seems a bit like a presumptive penalty, which cannot be the case in the 21st century.”
