Alarming increase in child offenders

The number of crimes in Germany has increased for the first time in five years since the end of the corona pandemic. This is shown by the nationwide police crime statistics (PKS) for 2022, which Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) wants to present on Thursday and WELT AM SONNTAG is available in advance. The statistics show 5.628 million criminal offenses – an increase of 11.5 percent over the previous year. The police clearance rate was 57.3 percent. Overall, the number of all crimes committed was even 3.5 percent higher than in 2019, the last year before the corona pandemic.

According to PKS, the number of suspects rose by 10.7 percent to 2.093 million compared to 2021. Of these, 783,876 (plus 22.6 percent) did not have a German passport. Among them were 310,062 immigrants (plus 35 percent), such as asylum seekers, refugees from the civil war and people staying illegally in Germany. The increase in suspected children is particularly high (93,095, plus 35.5 percent). That is also significantly more than in 2019 (72,890). In addition, the statistics show 189,149 suspected young people between the ages of 14 and 18 (2019: 177,082).

The most common crimes committed by children and young people were theft, followed by bodily harm, property damage and drug-related offences. "Trying out and testing limits - that's part of growing up," says Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) WELT AM SONNTAG. But after Corona, an alarming “catch-up effect” was noticed. She deplores the more frequent assault, robbery and theft offenses committed by children.

Saxony-Anhalt's Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (CDU) is concerned about the increase in violent crime among young people in her state: "The development in the numbers should not be downplayed." It is about preventing criminal careers at an early stage.

North Rhine-Westphalia's interior minister Herbert Reul (CDU) demands that the next interior ministers' conference deal with child and youth violence. A lack of social skills in this age group is a cause of aggression. "But the internet, with all its dodgy sites, sometimes videos glorifying violence or games that are circulating there, will also play its part." The murder of twelve-year-old student Luise in Freudenberg recently made headlines - "friends" of the same age had stabbed her to death.

The PKS cites as a new "trend" that even schoolchildren are distributing child pornographic video and image files in chat groups. From the USA, the police received numerous reports with crime scene Germany. There were a total of 42,075 cases of “distribution, acquisition, possession and production of child pornography” (up 7.4 percent from 2021).

In addition, total violent crime increased by 8.9 percent to 197,202 compared to the pre-Corona year 2019. In the case of dangerous and serious bodily harm, the PKS recorded an increase of 8.7 percent to 144,663 cases. These included 8160 knife attacks (2021: 7071). Such attacks have only been recorded since 2020. In addition, more violations of the Weapons Act (33,685, up 6.4 percent) were registered.

About a third of all crimes are thefts (1.78 million, up 20 percent). The level is below that of 2019 (1.82 million). Recently, apartments and houses in particular have been broken into more than in 2021 (65,908 cases, up 21.5 percent) – even though many people are still working from home. Nevertheless, before Corona, 2019, there were significantly more cases (87,145). While thefts from motor vehicles (25,511 cases, up 18.2 percent) and bicycles (265,562, up 13.7 percent) were less frequent than in 2019, the number of pickpocketing and shoplifting cases rose by more than 30 percent each.

The chairman of the Association of German Criminal Investigators (BDK), Dirk Peglow, adds: "Criminal offenses in which the perpetrators act abroad are not recorded." Here the PKS (136,865 cases, minus 6.5 percent) depicts only a fraction of what is happening.