The minister does not lack clarity. And yet. There is always a but to the unpleasant numbers. 5.5 percent more crimes last year, increasing violent crime in Germany, significantly more crimes committed by children and young people and a strong increase in suspects without a German passport – the balance of the police crime statistics for 2023 is not encouraging. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) now wants to take tougher action against criminals – but also against the lack of prospects that encourage crimes.
“Germany remains one of the safest countries in the world,” said Faeser on Tuesday Presentation of the police crime statistics 2023 in Berlin. “At the same time, there are developments that we need to clearly identify.” Compared to 2022, the number of suspects who were accused of a violent crime rose disproportionately by 8.6 percent. More than 13 percent of the suspects were minors, which is a striking number. The proportion of foreign suspects increased by 2.5 percentage points and was 34.4 percent, without any violations of immigration law. However, the number of non-Germans in the resident population has also grown significantly, as has the number of children and young people due to migration.
Interior Minister Faeser relies on “zero tolerance”
“There is an increase in violent crime, there is more crime against foreigners. That’s why today is about the necessary, in my view, tough crackdown by the rule of law,” said Faeser on Tuesday. From their point of view, what is necessary is “zero tolerance” and consistent prosecution. At the same time, Germany must also “address the social causes that lie behind crime and violence.” In addition to school education and integration courses, this also includes the fight against child poverty. In difficult times, “no one is allowed to lay an ax here.”
The police crime statistics record suspects, but not convicted criminals. The police cannot determine whether the allegations are true. The trend, however, leaves little doubt that acts of violence will increase in 2023. Intentional and simple bodily harm were 7.4 percent more common than in the previous year, knife attacks were almost 10 percent more common, and robbery offenses were even 17.4 percent more common. About a third of all crimes were thefts, and the number in stores grew by more than 23 percent.
However, the number of crimes on the Internet has also increased particularly sharply; information here mostly comes from secret services of other countries. There was an increase of 31.2 percent in the acquisition, possession or production of youth pornography. The spread of child pornography increased again by 7.4 percent – the number of unreported cases is likely to be much larger.
Many perpetrators are foreigners, as are many victims
“For me it is an unbearable situation that we are not exhausting the possibilities we could have in this area to protect children from such terrible crimes,” said Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) on Tuesday. The Interior Ministers’ Conference, which Stübgen chairs, expects a “rethink” from the federal government and a law that would temporarily allow the storage of IP addresses in order to identify criminals on the Internet. Faeser demands this storage, the FDP rejects it.
The greatest attention on Tuesday was focused on the growing number of non-German suspects. According to statistics, at 34.4 percent in 2023 it was significantly higher than the proportion of the foreign resident population in Germany. This is estimated at around 15 percent. However, it cannot be concluded from this that non-Germans are more than twice as likely to commit crimes as Germans, said the President of the Federal Criminal Police Office Holger Münch. “We have traveling criminals, we have tourists who also commit crimes.” This “distortion effect” makes the number of foreign criminals in the statistics “always look significantly higher than it actually is.”
However, there is a higher risk of delinquency among young male migrants. The reasons included experiences of violence and a poor economic situation. In addition, the living situation in initial reception centers for asylum seekers has become more difficult. According to statistics, most victims of crimes committed by non-Germans are also foreigners. The increase here was 15.2 percent, more than twice as high as for German victims. According to the BKA, crime among people without a German passport “is not primarily linked to the whereabouts of migrants, but rather to the conditions of acute, very extensive migration.” If the migration dynamic remains high, the problems will also grow.
A tool for careful handling
On Tuesday, scientists issued warnings not to draw hasty conclusions from police crime statistics. It is “an instrument that you have to handle very carefully,” said Hartmut Aden, professor of public law from Berlin. The list reflects the reporting behavior of citizens and the checking behavior of the police – i.e. “perception”, but not necessarily reality.
Irene Mihalic, parliamentary director of the Greens in the Bundestag, made similar comments. The increase in the number of cases is “worrying,” she said. However, the statistics do not document whether the suspects were actually charged and convicted. “Here we need a more solid basis, also to deal with the development of certain phenomena and to improve prevention.” CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt criticized that it was part of the “always the same reflex of the Greens” to justify such statistics with “supposed xenophobia”. “This is the usual green way of dealing with the issue: sugarcoating, denying and covering up.”
Thorsten Frei, parliamentary managing director of the Union parliamentary group, accused the traffic light of not having introduced any laws in two and a half years that would ensure more security. “So far you won’t find anything on the credit side.” Interior Minister Faeser rejected the allegations. Important successes have been achieved with border controls, stricter deportation rules and significantly more integration courses. The number of asylum seekers fell by 20 percent in 2024.