The trend towards more crime in Germany, which was already identified in 2022, has consolidated. According to a media report, the number of registered crimes nationwide rose by 5.5 percent to almost six million last year.
A total of 5.94 million crimes were reported to the police, “Welt am Sonntag” quoted from the crime statistics that Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) wants to officially present next week. The last time there were this many cases was in 2016. According to the report, 58.4 percent of all recorded crimes were solved, slightly more than in the previous year.
According to the newspaper, violent crime was at its highest level in 15 years. 214,099 such offenses were recorded. The number of dangerous and serious bodily harm rose by 6.8 percent to 154,541 cases.
The mood in society has changed
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) told the paper that the mood in society had changed: “Conflicts are solved more quickly with fists instead of words. The fuse has become shorter.”
Crime increased again nationwide in 2022 after years of decline – by 11.5 percent to around 5.63 million crimes. At that time, however, part of the increase was due to the abolition of the Corona measures. Due to the government restrictions, there were fewer opportunities for crime in 2020 and 2021 – for example because shops were closed and fewer people met.
According to “Welt am Sonntag”, there were significantly more residential break-ins last year than the year before. The number rose by 18.1 percent to 77,819 cases within a year. Berlin is the leader with 8,323 cases, an increase of 35.2 percent.
Statistics are yet to be officially presented
As the newspaper reports, the number of suspects rose by 7.3 percent to almost 2.25 million compared to 2022. Of the suspects, 923,269 (plus 17.8 percent) did not have a German passport. However, immigration to Germany has also risen sharply in the past two years. Certain crimes, such as violations of the Residence Act or the Asylum Procedure Act, are almost exclusively committed by foreigners due to their different legal status.
The nationwide crime statistics have yet to be officially presented. But the data for the past year that has become known from individual federal states already suggests that the negative trend of 2022, which at that time was partly related to the lifting of state anti-corona measures, has continued in 2023.
Referring to the state figures, the Federal Minister of the Interior stated that her ministry had been keeping an eye on the increase in youth violence and non-German suspects for some time. The causes included “own experiences of violence through terror and flight, but also the risk of poverty.”
The SPD politician said that the increased youth crime is also related to the serious psychological consequences of the corona pandemic. At the same time, Faeser emphasized: “These are causes, but in no way justifications for violence.” On the one hand, noticeable criminal consequences and faster deportations of foreign criminals are necessary, but on the other hand, more prevention and an examination of the social causes are also necessary.
