Fritzl Triggers Change in Austria Sex Law

His rape conviction was wiped off books as he adopted grandkids
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 8, 2008 7:41 AM CDT
Fritzl Triggers Change in Austria Sex Law
A sign reading "Why" is seen in front of the house in Amstetten, where 73-year-old Josef Fritzl has confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24-years in a windowless basement cell.   (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)

The Josef Fritzl case has spurred Austrian legislators to initiate changes in sex crime laws to prevent child abuse, the BBC reports. As Fritzl kept his daughter imprisoned as a sex slave, he was granted custody for three of the children he fathered with her— despite a rape conviction. His conviction was wiped off the books after 15 years. Austria now wants to keep sex crime records for at least 30 years. (More Austria stories.)

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