Algerian teenagers are an astonishing 56 times more likely to be suspected of a crime than their German-born counterparts, according to new German statistics published for the first time.
“In almost all crime categories surveyed, foreign nationals have an exorbitantly high crime rate compared to German suspects”, says an Alternative for Germany (AfD) lawmaker after the German Federal Criminal Office collated and released per-capita crime suspect data for the first time.
The data combines the number of criminal suspects with the total number of any given demographic group in Germany, allowing like-for-like comparisons on a per capita basis. Paper of record Die Welt, which was given exclusive access to the data, reports significant differentials in the likelihood of being suspected of committing a crime among various ethnic groups.
Across all ages, non-migrant Germans had a rate of 18 suspects per 1,000 people, while Syrians had a rate of 82 and Afghans 87 per 1,000, more than four times the rate of native Germans. To achieve the clearest comparison, migration crimes — such as being in Germany illegally, or crossing the border without permission — were excluded from both groups, so only crimes committed in Germany were counted.
The Welt report noted that there could be an unfair penalty against migrants because they tend to be overwhelmingly young, poor, and male, all signifiers for a potentially higher propensity to risky behaviour in any nationality. However, accounting for this, the statistics also produced results for just the youths of each nationality residing in Germany, and just German youths, and the results clearly showed that even when controlled for age migrant groups are entangled in the criminal justice system at a considerably higher rate.
Syrian youths are five times more likely to be suspected of a crime than their German counterparts of the same age, and Moroccan teens are 19 times more likely, Welt said. Most astonishing of all were Algerian teens, however, who are 56 times more likely to be suspected of a crime than a German youth.
At the other end of the spectrum — to some extent — are Ukrainian youths, who are just twice as likely to be suspected of a crime as their German peers, a favourable position in the international league.
Pointing to a cultural dimension to these statistics, AfD spokesman Martin Hess took to social media and said in a statement, “In terms of total crimes, Syrians, Afghans, and Iraqis – i.e., people from predominantly Muslim countries – rank highest.”
This was explicitly linked to Berlin’s failed migration policy, he said, and expressed particular concern about the extremely high crime rates of migrant adolescents and children, as it suggested a new generation of higher crime rates on the horizon for Germany in light of demographic change.
“Children imitate what they experience in their environment. Anyone who grows up in an environment characterized by violence, contempt for our legal system, and open rejection of our values is unlikely to develop into law-abiding members of our society,” Hess wrote.
“These children and young people are not just tomorrow’s problem – they are already a threat to our security today, as the recent escalations in schools demonstrate. We are in the midst of a development that is massively damaging our country and the security of our citizens.”
Hess argued that the government must halt immigration into the country and focus on integrating those who are already in Germany, saying that anything less would be a “capitulation” and surrendering of the future nation.
The right-wing, sovereigntist AfD — now in opposition as the second-largest party in Germany and no longer so easily brushed off when making requests for data — has recently been releasing increasingly detailed statistical packages, occasionally employing novel methods to extract additional context from otherwise dry numbers.
One technique developed by the AfD for this is requesting lists of first names for those interacting with the government, be it as suspects of crimes or recipients of state largess, to underline demographic change and the failure of new communities to integrate.
As reported, the latest data on individuals receiving Germany’s Bürgergeld unemployment welfare payments revealed a disproportionate concentration of names like Ahmad, Ali, and Mohammad in the top ten, despite migrants of all backgrounds making up a comparatively modest 20 per cent of the national population.
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