The number of crimes in Bavarian schools has increased dramatically in recent years: a total of 9,622 crimes were counted in 2023. These included 2,668 assault offenses and 2,063 theft offenses. This emerges from current figures from the Ministry of the Interior.
In 2023, a total of almost 8 percent more crimes were registered than in 2022 and 14 percent more than in the pre-Corona year 2019. The number of bodily harm crimes even increased by 19 percent within a year, compared to 2019 by 41 percent. The total number of students in Bavaria has only increased slightly by a good one percent since 2019.
It should be noted that the Interior Ministry’s figures include all crimes involving a school as a crime scene. Whether the crimes were actually committed in a school context or, for example, at non-school events in sports halls or during construction work cannot be differentiated based on the data from crime statistics. The increase in crimes in Bavarian schools was already the topic of the most recent presentation of crime statistics, and now the Interior Ministry has given further details following a request from the state parliament’s AfD.
The number of young suspects also increased significantly: among young people (between 14 and under 18 years old), the number rose from 2,439 to 2,964 between 2019 and 2023 – that corresponds to an increase of 21.5 percent. Among children (under 14 years of age), the number of suspects increased by 35 percent during this time: from 1,768 to 2,388. Around 70 percent of all suspects in schools had German citizenship in 2023.