Youth crime in transition: What North Rhine-Westphalia needs to know now

In 2022, Germany saw an increase in child and youth crime recorded by the police. Given the limitations of official police statistics, the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia commissioned the state government to conduct an independent study of unreported cases to investigate the existence, extent and possible causes of this increase and to develop policy recommendations. WiSo Professor Clemens Kroneberg and his colleagues took on these tasks. The final report on the study ‘On the Development of Child and Youth Delinquency in North Rhine-Westphalia: Final Report on the Sub-project “Dark Field”’ has already been handed over to Interior Minister Reul and has also received considerable attention in the media, including WDR aktuell, NTV and RTL. Today, the results of the study will be discussed in the Interior Committee of the state parliament.

The study focuses on a large-scale school survey conducted in autumn and winter 2024. The researchers revisited schools that had already participated in an earlier study from 2013 to 2016, which enabled descriptive comparisons due to the high response rate and relevant metrics. The new survey covered more than 3,700 pupils at 27 secondary schools in three cities in the Ruhr area.

The study shows that the vast majority of young people surveyed reported no property or violent offences in the last 12 months. This was true in 2013 and 2015 as well as in 2024. However, there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of property and violent offences. The increase in the prevalence of violence and multiple offences is particularly pronounced among the girls surveyed. Compared to the survey conducted approximately 10 years ago, the researchers also observe a decline in self-assessed self-control, acceptance of school norms and the expectation of consequences for rule violations.

Kroneberg emphasises: ‘Interestingly, we find no increase in the acceptance of violence when comparing different time periods. This, as well as the widespread prevalence of psychological stress, suggests that young people today are more often overwhelmed and need to be strengthened, especially in their social and emotional skills.’ However, according to Kroneberg, the results of the study do not provide a basis for calling for highly repressive measures such as lowering the age of criminal responsibility. In their final report, the researchers formulate a series of recommendations for action that could strengthen prevention work.

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