The End of Childhood and the End of the “worthiness of protection”

Sexual Child Abuse in Austrian Criminal Proceedings (1950–1970)

Abstract

Abstract: The Austrian criminal law (1852) set the age of consent at 14 years and stated that sexual acts with boys and girls below that age were a felony. THis criminal law, which remained in force until 1974, was deeply shaped by patriarchal and heterosexual norms and by distinct notions about sexual morality – both of which proved to be in contraction, at least partially, with the demands required by child protection. Even though the law attempted to draw boundaries between childhood and adulthood, in the courtrooms, these lines became blurred, as is illustrated by the legal practice of the court of St. Pölten (Lower Austria) in the period between 1950 and 1970. By examining three case studies (rape of minor, adolescent girls, sexual abuse of minor boys by adult men and sexual abuse of so called ‘corrupt’ children) the article illustrates how courts of $rst instance contradicted notions of children’s rights to protection from sexual violence.