Decision handed down to Berlin police.
QUICK FACTS:
- Police in the German capital of Berlin will no longer be disclosing the migrant history of criminal suspects under the age of 21.
- This edict was handed down after the Berlin Senate repealed a policy that had been in effect since 2011 on the grounds that it was ruled irrelevant.
- The Senate Administration acknowledged that the police will no longer be documenting and publishing the migrant history of some criminals.
- The policy’s end comes following the revelation that a large percentage of crimes committed by young people in Germany were found to have been committed by immigrants.
- In 2017, it was reported that half of the crimes committed in the country were perpetrated by individuals who didn’t hold a German passport.
FROM THE SENATE:
- “The registration of the migration background of suspects under the age of 21 for crimes such as murder, manslaughter, rape, sexual assault or brutality, which was introduced in 2011, has been discontinued,” the Senate Administration declared in its statement about the change.
- The governing body also noted that the policy had been discontinued on August 3rd, RBB24 reports.
- Germany’s Senate Administration said that the ability to record the migration background of young suspects was only put into place in order to provide data to shape future policy, but stated, “In police practice, however, this unique criterion has not developed any relevance for Berlin.”
BACKGROUND:
- Currently, about one in four people in Germany have a “migrant background” and are either from another country or have at least one migrant parent.
- A micro-census conducted by Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), 27.2% of the country had this type of background in 2021.
- Just over half of those with migrant backgrounds, or about 54%, were born in other countries.
