In Germany, the COVID-19 lockdowns led to a significant decrease in crime. However, in 2022, crime rose slightly higher than 2019 levels. In 2023, there was another big increase.
Last March, Bavaria Interior Minister Joachim Herman stated that Bavaria’s crime surge was part of a “nationwide trend for which foreigners and immigrants are particularly responsible.” He vowed that increased crime would not become “the new normal.”
Bavaria had 266,390 criminal suspects in 2023. While non-citizens made up 16% of the population of Bavaria, they were 39.6% of all suspects. This number increases to 46.5% when only looking at violent crime. The number of non-citizens suspected of a crime is growing much faster than the number of citizens. The number of non-citizens suspected of a crime in Bavaria in 2023 increased by 20.5% over 2022.
Note that the category of German citizens also includes large numbers of immigrants who have been naturalized.
Herbert Reul, the Interior Minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia [NRW], has also acknowledged an enormous spike.
He said those without German citizenship make up 17.5% of the population of his state but account for 35% of all crime suspects. They made up 41.6% of suspects of violent crimes and 80% of suspects for pickpocketing. He says that crimes committed by non-citizens increased 10% in 2023.
There were 2,246,000 criminal suspects nationwide in Germany in 2023. Of this, 41.7% of suspects were non-citizens. Violent crimes committed by foreigners nationwide increased by 15% according to TLDR News.
