No Kidding: Germany saw 33% rise in number of child criminals in 2022

Berlin: The number of child criminals in Germany have increased by a third in 2022, according to data released by Federal Criminal Police Office. Witnessing an 11.5 per cent rise, the country registered 5.6 million crimes in 2022. Along with this, the number of suspects has also seen a jump by just over 10.7 per cent in 2022. In 2019, around 177,082 suspects were aged between 14 and 18. This figure saw a massive jump with 2022 lodging as many as 189,149 underaged suspects. The report showed that the most common form of crime committed by children includes heft, followed by assault, damage to property and drug-related crimes. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said, “Children are the most vulnerable in society. Protecting them is my top priority.” She also flagged an “appalling scale” of rise in crime in the country. Old debate on criminal responsibility revives The “appalling” data has reignited an age-old debate in Germany over the criminal age of responsibility. Under the current German law, children can only be charged for crimes they commit if they are above 14 years of age. The latest figures prompted Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Minister Thomas Strobl and Justice Minister Marion Gentges from the centre-right Christian Democrats to write letters to the government demanding criminal responsibility age to be reviewed. The head of the German Police Union has also made similar calls. Rainer Wendt, the head of the union told DW, “It’s not about punishing children or sending them to jail, but about influencing their behaviour, and criminal proceedings are very effective at doing that." “Courts can impose orders, they can monitor those orders, they can issue restraining orders and impose curfews. The Youth Welfare Office can’t do any of that without the support of the parents, and, depending on the milieu in which the parents operate, there could be no cooperation at all,” Wendt added. Crime in Germany sees record high Federal Criminal Police Office data shows an overall increase in crime in the country for the first time in five years. The increase was particularly attributed to theft offenses (20 per cent) and residential burglaries (21.5 per cent), among others. Nancy Faeser said, “We need to act to better protect women and remove the fear of assault. We need more security presence on public transport and in crime-ridden places - and more video surveillance." Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .