Capital: A 3rd of knife attackers are underneath 21, a excessive proportion are foreigners | EUROtoday

A hanging variety of youngsters and younger individuals proceed to be concerned in acts of violence in Berlin. The proportion of non-German suspected perpetrators elevated considerably within the yr that ended. Police Chief Barbara Slowik Meisel advised the German Press Agency.

“We tend to see a slight decline in violent acts overall in 2025. However, for children and young people it will remain at about the same level as in 2024, when around eight percent of violent acts were committed by children and 14 percent by young people,” mentioned Slowik Meisel. “As in previous years, the proportion of children and young people is worryingly high.” Many acts, particularly by youngsters and younger individuals, happen in public areas when disputes happen inside teams.

The actual figures for 2025 shall be printed subsequent spring. In 2024, the police registered round 48,000 bodily accidents. Almost 33,000 suspected perpetrators have been recognized. These included 2,636 younger individuals and 1,963 youngsters underneath the age of 14.

3,482 reported crimes have been dedicated with the menace or use of knives. Of the 4,528 suspected perpetrators, one in three was underneath 21 years previous.

Increased proportion of overseas suspects

With regard to using knives in crimes, Slowik Meisel emphasised that this was predominantly an issue for younger males. “And what also shows – and I expressly mean this neither as stigmatization nor as a way to support negative populist attitudes, but as a basis for prevention and youth and social work – is that we continue to see a significantly higher proportion of non-German young people in acts of violence compared to German children and young people.”

This applies to all age teams on this subject, mentioned Slowik Meisel. This evaluation is related for the police as a result of it permits extra focused preventive work. If there have been a better variety of overseas younger individuals and youngsters among the many perpetrators, then prevention measures and cooperation with initiatives may very well be aimed extra at this. “Cultural differences, different living conditions or experiences of violence may play a role here.”

The police are notably current at excessive colleges with prevention work concerning the carrying of knives. A brand new program is named “Strong without a Blade”. Some younger males specifically believed that you simply needed to have a knife with you for self-defense. “We want to make it clear with the program that this is not a means of self-defense, but rather life-threatening.”

Slowik Meisel identified the good significance of fast punishments, particularly for younger individuals and youngsters, in order that the time lag from the crime just isn’t so lengthy. “It may be banal, but you can say: the punishment must come much sooner after the crime,” she mentioned.

“We could possibly interrupt criminal careers earlier and give these young people clear, early signals to stop.” It would due to this fact be essential to allow reforms within the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Youth Court Act to permit for real expedited procedures for minor offenses.