After a request from the Alternative Party, the government reveals which nationalities commit the most crimes.
The German Ministry of the Interior, in response to a request from the far-right AfD party, has revealed new detailed figures on crime in the country, classified by nationality. These statistics indicate an overrepresentation of citizens from Syria, Afghanistan, Algeria, and Turkey among the suspects in committing crimes, especially among the youth. According to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the number of Syrian and Afghan suspects per 100,000 inhabitants far exceeds the general average. For example, the crime suspicion rate among Germans is 1878, while it exceeds 8000 among Syrians and Afghans, which is four times higher. The gap increases further among teenagers aged 14 to 18, where Syrians appear in the statistics five times more than their German counterparts.
The difference becomes stark when looking at "street" crimes, such as thefts and physical assaults. It has been shown that young people from Algeria and Morocco appear in that category at rates exceeding German youth by more than 50 times. Additionally, many of the suspects in drug crimes come from countries like Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, and Afghanistan.
But experts warn against rushing to interpret the numbers without understanding the context. The population of Algerians in Germany is relatively small, so any slight increase in the number of offenders significantly raises the overall rate. Additionally, the police monitor foreigners more than German citizens, which also contributes to inflating the numbers.
Investigators confirm that youth crime has risen again after years of decline. Sociologists point to an 'increasing cruelty' in society, where psychological and economic pressures following the COVID-19 pandemic play a significant role. Some young asylum seekers are classified as 'repeat offenders,' as individuals commit a series of crimes in a short period of time. Although the statistics are based only on the number of suspects, they do not reflect the number of crimes or their severity. Many cases are overlooked, especially in domestic violence crimes that often go unreported due to shame or financial dependency.
Studies indicate that individuals with foreign traits are reported more than others, and the police monitor them more intensively. Research also shows that the feeling of insecurity in Germany does not match reality. Older individuals – who are less prone to crime – feel more fear than the youth, even though the youth are more involved in crime. Experts believe that the main factors behind the overrepresentation of certain nationalities in crime are the age and gender of migrants, as a large proportion of them are young males, and this group is generally more prone to crime, whether they are migrants or not. Additionally, difficult living conditions in shelters, lack of privacy, or recreational activities affect the behavior of these young people. Often, both perpetrators and victims come from the same refugee environment.
The economic situation also plays a role, as many migrants live in poverty, and some are far from their families, which can play an important role in reducing criminal behavior. Although these factors do not justify crime, they help explain the phenomenon. The country was shaken last year by horrific incidents of violence, including a knife attack carried out by an Afghan youth in the city of Aschaffenburg, resulting in the death of a child and a man. A similar attack occurred in Solingen, carried out by a Syrian youth with Islamic motives. In the aftermath of these incidents, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for a change in immigration policy, amid growing concerns among citizens about the state's inability to cope with the increasing number of refugees and rising fears of political extremism. A study from Macromedia University in Hamburg shows that German media mention foreign perpetrators in their television reports at a rate exceeding their actual proportion in criminal statistics by 19 times, contributing to deepening public fears, even though the actual threat may not be that significant. In conclusion, this data shows the complexity of the relationship between crime and nationality, and that statistics always need careful and conscious interpretation that does not overlook the impact of social, psychological, and economic factors.