BKA statistics: Asylum immigrants are suspected of murder and manslaughter

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men the years since 2015, one in eight suspects identified for serious bodily injury in Germany was an immigrant asylum. This is the result of a special evaluation of Police Crime Statistics (PKS) by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), to which WELT AM SONNTAG is exclusively available.

Consequently, between the beginning of 2015 and the end of 2019, a total of 715,134 suspects were identified in the crime of serious or dangerous bodily injury. Of these, 95,282 (13.3%) were asylee immigrants, that is, they belonged to the residence categories asylum seekers, persons entitled to protection, quota refugees or tolerated persons. Serious or dangerous bodily injury is quantitatively the largest crime of serious violent crime.

In the category of more serious crimes of murder and manslaughter, the proportion of asylum immigrants among the identified suspects was even higher, that is, 14.9 percent. According to the special assessment, between 2015 and the end of 2019, a total of 13,775 suspects were identified in this category of crimes, including 2,050 asylum seekers, persons entitled to protection, contingent refugees or tolerated persons.

Persons with the status of “unauthorized residence” are excluded from this information on asylum immigrants. The special BKA assessment available to WELT AM SONNTAG thus allows for the most accurate statements to date on the crime rate of foreigners who have entered as protection applicants.

Since the height of the migration crisis five years ago, the BKA has tried to separate the group of foreigners who arrived as asylum seekers in crime statistics into the category of “immigrants”. However, in addition to the groups mentioned above, this also includes those with “unauthorized residence”. In addition to people who have not yet applied for asylum or who were not tolerated after being rejected, this also includes those who have not received any application for asylum.

However, it should be noted that the PKS only records identified suspects and not culprits. Suspects will be registered as soon as the police investigation ends and handed over to the Public Ministry. In general, the PKS, like any other statistic, only represents an approximation of reality and not its image, for example, many crimes are never reported.

Suspects can only be identified for slightly more than every second recorded crime. However, the PKS is the best data set to get an idea of ​​the crime recorded, in addition to the perception of individual cases. The basic rule of thumb is: the more serious the crime, the higher the reporting and clarification rates and the more significant the PKS.

When comparing the delinquency of asylee immigrants or other foreigners with the rest of the population, criminologists repeatedly point to important characteristics of different groups. For one thing, men are much more likely to become criminals: men are clearly overrepresented in the immigrant group. On the other hand, experts refer to the youngest average age of immigrants. One in three suspects in Germany is between the ages of 18 and 29.

Among first-time asylum seekers from 2015 to 2018, 36 percent were this age; among the German population it is only 13 percent. However, the reference to gender and age only partially explains the tendency to force majeure. An over-representation of violent crime can also be determined by comparing only young men with and without a German passport. In other words, social and cultural factors seem to be even more important.

This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG. We are happy to take them home on a regular basis.