Immigration and crime in Germany

Criminal activity by immigrants

While some studies show a correlation between immigrant populations in Germany and crime, most social studies on the subject have shown little correlation between migrants and crime in Germany. In May 2016, Politifact deemed Donald Trump's statement that "Germany "is crime-riddled right now" because of migration to Europe" as mostly false. The fact-checker noted that Germany's crime rate, particularly the violent crime rate, is far lower than in the United States, and that data suggest that the crime rate of the average refugee is lower than that of the average German.

The first comprehensive study of the social effects of the one million refugees going to Germany found that it caused "very small increases in crime in particular with respect to drug offenses and fare-dodging." A report released by the German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation in November 2015 found that over the period January–September 2015, the crime rate of refugees was the same as that of native Germans. According to Deutsche Welle, the report "concluded that the majority of crimes committed by refugees (67 percent) consisted of theft, robbery and fraud. Sex crimes made for less than 1 percent of all crimes committed by refugees, while homicide registered the smallest fraction at 0,1 percent." According to the conservative newspaper Die Welt's description of the report, the most common crime committed by refugees was not paying fares on public transportation. According to Deutsche Welle's reporting in February 2016 of a report by the German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation, the number of crimes committed by refugees did not rise in proportion to the number of refugees between 2014-2015. According to Deutsche Welle, "between 2014 and 2015, the number of crimes committed by refugees increased by 79 percent. Over the same period, however, the number of refugees in Germany increased by 440 percent."

A study in the European Economic Review found that the German government's policy of immigration of more than 3 million people of German descent to Germany after the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a significant increase in crime. The effects were strongest in regions with high unemployment, high preexisting crime levels or large shares of foreigners.

DW reported in 2006 that in Berlin, young male immigrants are three times more likely to commit violent crimes than their German peers. Whereas the Gastarbeiter in the 50s and 60s did not have an elevated crime rate, second- and third-generation of immigrants had significantly higher crime rates.

By region

For example, Hamburg police reported criminal proceedings being opened against 38,000 people in the first six months of 2016, of which 16,600 persons or 43% of the defendants had no German papers. This represents a rise from 41% of defendants without German papers in 2015. The number of foreign criminals increased by 16.7% over 2015; 9.5% of the suspects were refugees. The figures did not include crimes against the German alien law. Foreign crime gangs were named as one reason for the rising figures. Refugees committed mostly pickpocketing, representing 30.6% of all suspects. 27.5% of suspects in drug dealing also arrived as refugees. Another common crime committed by refugees was bodily injury, with 1,014 cases reported, mostly in the asylum centers.

On 5 December 2016, the Interior Minister of Saxony, Markus Ulbig, released figures about foreign criminals in his state from January to September. A large proportion of them came from North Africa; 664 North Africans were responsible for 36% of all 14,043 crimes committed by immigrants. By the end of October 2016, 31,000 asylum seekers resided in Saxony. In total, in Saxony 7,579 immigrants were perpetrators, counting only solved cases. 5,288 of the crimes were theft and robbery; 2,214 were bodily injury; and 169 were sexual assaults, representing a rise from 25 recorded cases in 2013. 46% of all immigrants who came from the Maghreb states went on to commit crimes in the state.

Crimes against immigrants

There were 797 attacks against residences of refugees or migrants from January to October 2016, according to data collected by the German Federal Criminal Office. 740 attacks had a right-wing background, which also couldn't be ruled out in 57 further cases. Of these, 320 cases of property damage were recorded, in 180 cases propaganda material was dispersed and in 137 cases violence was used. In addition, 61 incidents of arson as well as 10 violations of the Explosives Law, 4 of them in front of a residence of refugees, were registered. According to Der Tagesspiegel, there were also 11 cases of attempted murder or homicide. In 2015, there had been 1,029 attacks against refugee residences, following 199 in 2014.

Political impact

According to criminologist Simon Cottee, sociologist Stanley Cohen analyzed fear of immigrant crime among Germans and other contemporary Europeans in the 1960s as a form of moral panic.

Four violent crimes committed during the week of 18 July–three of them committed by asylum seekers–created significant political pressure for changes in the Angela Merkel administration policy of welcoming refugees. The Wall Street Journal reported that two notorious crimes committed by asylum seekers in consecutive weeks in December had added fuel to debates on immigration and surveillance in Germany.