Child and youth welfare facilities by the same operator in Lower Austria and the subject matter was sanctioning practices. The AOB initiated ex-officio investigative proceedings thereupon which were not concluded at the time of completing this report. The regional government of Lower Austria deployed a special commission to examine the alleged abuse. The Head of Commission 3 is also a member of this special commission. Direct link with misconduct Sanctions should only be applied in pedagogic work after careful deliberation and on a case-by-case basis. They should be directly linked to the misconduct in time and not imposed arbitrarily depending on the caregiver. Cleaning the entire house, taking away a mobile phone for an unlimited period of time, withholding pocket money or grounding for weeks are certainly not adequate reactions to rule violations. Sanctions that are too strict and bear no relation to the misbehaviour do not bring about the desired positive pedagogical effect. What is often not fully taken into account by the pedagogic staff is that the perceived problematic behaviour mirrors the patterns of behaviour experienced during early childhood and that the children have never learned strategies for alternative types of behaviour. Often the application of strict sanctioning systems is an expression of overload and helplessness by the staff. In one shared accommodation, the penalties imposed were written on a board with information about the misconduct and hung up in the caregivers’ room for all to see from the hallway. This practice had the effect of setting a demarcation but in no way took the children’s and adolescents’ need for help into consideration. This can result in their reacting with behaviour that is even less desirable, which culminates in a spiral of behaviour patterns such as running away from the facility, regression or aggression. Alternatives must be learned A learning process can only take place for minors if the consequences for misconduct are clear and plausible. The reaction to rule violations should thus be customised on a case-by-case basis as opposed to a routine manner. Further training measures must be open to staff in order to develop alternatives to inflexible sanctioning systems. The concept of “New Authority” in particular, which rejects punishment in general and relies on the system of making amends, has been successful. XX  Degrading punishment is forbidden without exception. XX  Sanctions must be directly associated with the rule violation. 68