According to the State Criminal Police Office, violent youth groups are a major problem in large Bavarian cities. The number of so-called group offenses among young people increased massively there from 2018 to 2021: by a factor of 16, according to a study published by the LKA on Friday. For this purpose, numbers from Munich and the surrounding area, Nuremberg and Augsburg were evaluated, which rose from 13 in 2018 to 209 in 2021.
In 2022, on the other hand, there was apparently a sharp decline in crime: 15 were counted in the first half of the year, as Michael Laumer from the Criminological Research Group of the Bavarian Police (KFG) said. But: “The basic problem is not gone.” According to Laumer, the crimes are often related to weapons or drugs. The groups consist almost exclusively of young males (98.9 percent) who are on average 17.6 years old and are therefore almost adults. According to the study, most of them attend a primary or secondary school.
The group members mostly grew up in broken families and socio-economically weaker neighborhoods. According to the study, these neighborhoods are “characterized by a high proportion of migrants, low family income and cramped living space”. A lack of prospects is an important issue, because the majority of the group members drop out of school early, don’t manage to graduate and are therefore unable to fulfill their career aspirations. “Through membership in a violent youth group, young people seek respect and recognition; financial incentives and compensation for a lack of family support are other motives for belonging,” said the LKA.
The reason for the study, which mainly refers to figures from the most recently published children and youth report from 2021, was “serious and sensational acts of violence by criminal youth groups” in recent years. In March 2022, for example, a verbal altercation between several young people in Munich ended in a fatal stabbing. An 18-year-old died.