Federal Act amending the Penal Code and the Code of Penal Procedure (Penal Code Amendments 1989) , 27 April 1989
Annual Review of Population Law 16: 118 544-5
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0364-3417 PMID: 12344063 Document Number: 339043
Austria's Federal act amending the Penal Code and the Code of Penal Procedure (Penal Code Amendments 1989), April 27, 1989, rewrites sections of the Penal Code relating to sexual crimes. Among other things, it makes these sections sex-neutral and criminalizes rape within marriage and cohabitation. Section 201 states that 1) whoever, by means of serious force or threat of actual serious danger to life or limb, compels a person to engage in sexual intercourse or an equivalent sexual act will be punished with imprisonment from 1 to 10 years. Rendering a person unconscious will be considered using serious force; 2) apart from the above subsection 1, whoever, by means of force or deprivation or personal freedom, or threat of actual danger to life or limb, compels a person to engage in sexual intercourse or an equivalent sexual act will be punished with imprisonment from 6 months to 5 years; and 3) specified circumstances will result in enhanced punishments. Section 202 states that 1) apart from the above Section 201, whoever by means of force or serious threat, compels a sexual act shall be punished with imprisonment for up to 3 years and 2) there will be enhanced punishments for special circumstances. Section 203 deals with perpetration of the crime in marriage or cohabitation, and states: 1) whoever perpetrates one of the acts described in Section 201 and Section 202 against a spouse or cohabiting partner will be prosecuted only upon the complaint of the injured party in so far as none of the results described in sections 201 or 202 occurs, and the criminal act contains none of the circumstances specified in those sections. Special commutation provisions are available when the injured party declares their wish to continue to live with the perpetrator.