statistics
The number of crimes has risen sharply – especially among children
Police officers reportedly had more work to do with criminal cases. photo
© Bodo Schackow/dpa
More than five million crimes were recently committed in Germany – significantly more than in the previous year. What could be the reason for this and what role do children play in this?
According to a report by “Welt am Sonntag”, the number of criminal offenses in Germany rose by 11.5 percent last year compared to the previous year. The newspaper reported this, citing the police crime statistics (PKS), which Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) plans to present in Berlin on Thursday.
According to the newspaper, around 5.6 million crimes were committed nationwide. The number of cases is 3.5 percent higher than in 2019, the last year without corona restrictions. According to the information, the clear-up rate is 57.3 percent.
According to the newspaper, the number of suspects increased compared to 2021 – by 10.7 percent to around 2.1 million.
More child and youth violence
According to the information, the increase in suspected children (93,095) is particularly high, up 35.5 percent. That is significantly more than in 2019 (72,890). According to the newspaper, the new “trend” mentioned by the PKS is that schoolchildren are distributing child pornographic video and image files in chat groups.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister Herbert Reul (CDU) called for the next interior ministers’ conference to deal with child and youth violence. A lack of social skills is one of the reasons for this: “But the Internet, with all its dodgy pages, sometimes videos glorifying violence or games that are circulating there, will also play its part,” says Reul.