In the Federal Republic of Germany, a total of 212,832 violent crimes were reported in 2005. In comparison with the previous year, this represents an increase of 0.8 percent. The proportion of violent crimes in relation to the total number of criminal offences was 3.3 percent in 2005 (in 2004: 3.2 percent). The success rates in solving cases continue to be high in the case of these serious crimes (murder: 95.8 percent; manslaughter: 95.8 percent; robbery: 50.9 percent; dangerous and grievous bodily harm: 83.5 percent; rape and sexual coercion: 83.7 percent).
For 2005, the police crime statistics for the Federal Republic of Germany have recorded a decrease of 3.6 percent in the total number of reported criminal offences compared with the previous year. A total of 6,391,715 criminal offences were registered. 5,317,378 ( 3.1 percent) of these were committed in the old federal states including Greater Berlin and 1,074,337 ( 6.3 percent) cases in the five new federal states. Against the trend, the number of criminal offences dropped by 2.4 percent in Lower Saxony. With a decrease of 1.8 percent, North Rhine-Westphalia lies slightly below the nationwide trend.
The crime frequency (this refers to the registered criminal offences in relation to 100,000 inhabitants) was higher in the new federal states with 7,998 reported criminal offences than in the old federal states including Greater Berlin with 7,699 criminal offences. The frequency figures were 7,747 at the national level and 8,318 in North-Rhine Westphalia.
Last year, it was possible to solve 55 percent of all the cases. This represents a rise of 0.8 percent in comparison with the preceding year.
A breakdown according to individual criminal offences or groups of criminal offences results in a more differentiated pattern. With regard to the violent crimes (murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, fatal, dangerous and grievous bodily harm, hostage-taking and extortionate kidnapping), it was once again possible to achieve a high level of success in solving cases, i.e. 75.3 percent. Aggravated theft and damage to property are still regarded as difficult to solve with success rates of 13.9 percent and 26.2 percent respectively.
Last year, a total of 2,313,136 suspects were ascertained by solving 3,518,567 criminal offences, i.e. a decrease of 3.0 percent (in 2004: 2,384,268 suspects). In this respect, the number of ascertained suspects with German nationality fell by 2.4 percent to 1,793,563. In the case of the non-German suspects, it was possible to record a drop of 5.0 percent to 519,573.
The proportion of suspects without German citizenship declined from 22.9 percent in 2004 to 22.5 percent in 2005.

Broken down according to age groups, the total number of suspects results in a non-uniform pattern:

• In 2005, the adult age group (which accounted for 72.6 percent of all the suspects) recorded a decrease of 2.5 percent in the number of suspects (in 2004: 1,720,877; in 2005: 1,678,112).

• The number of child suspects (less than 14 years' old) fell by a notable 10.9 percent (in 2004: 115,770; in 2005: 103,124). Even if the greatest drop was established in the case of shoplifting offences, the majority of the investigations relating to the suspects were still for shoplifting.

• Also in the case of juveniles (14 to less than 18 years' old), the number of suspects decreased by 4.3 percent (in 2004: 297,087; in 2005: 284,450). Obtaining goods or trade credit by false pretences (e.g. in connection with auctions in the Internet), criminal offences against the Firearms Act as well as the surreptitious use of services (e.g. "faredodging") constituted an increasing trend which was also shown within the total number of criminal offences.

• With regard to the young adults (18 to 21 years' old), the number of suspects fell by 1.2 percent (in 2004: 250,534; in 2005: 247,450). In analogy to the adult and juvenile suspects, it was possible here as well to record the greatest rise in the criminal offences against the Firearms Act in addition to obtaining goods or trade credit by false pretences.

The rise in the number of violent crimes may basically be attributed to a further rise of 5.3 percent in the cases of dangerous and grievous bodily harm. This increase must have been influenced by altered reporting behaviour as a consequence of the "Violence Protection Act" which came into force on January 1, 2002 and much more by the associated extension of the police laws to measures relating to house expulsions and return bans which entail the reporting of an offence.
The rise in the number of violent crimes in the field of dangerous and grievous bodily harm may be explained by the fact that the police can take different action in order to intervene in cases of domestic violence and basically by a general increase in the willingness to commit violence as well.
Violent crimes such as murder and manslaughter are still subject to a downward tendency.
With regard to the robbery offences, it was possible, after stagnation in 2004 compared with 2003 ( 0.1 percent), to record a considerable decrease of 8.2 percent for the first time in 2005.

Motor Vehicle Offences - Substantially Fewer Motor Vehicle Thefts

The theft of motor cars (including unauthorised utilisation) has dropped by 8,699 cases compared with the preceding year to 50,238 cases. This constitutes a decrease of 14.8 percent. The proportion of cases solved rose slightly to 27.8 percent (in 2004: 27.0 percent).
The longstanding downward trend with regard to the thefts from motor vehicles has continued in 2005. The number of cases fell by 48,282 to 391,372 or by 11.0 percent.
The theft of motor vehicles has dropped by 9,366 cases to 152,100, i.e. a decline of 5.8 percent.
The theft of bicycles (including unauthorised utilisation) has fallen by 23,209 cases to 388,888. This represents a decrease of 5.6 percent in the number of cases.
As with the theft of and from motor vehicles, the success rate in solving cases of bicycle theft continues to be stagnant at a low level.
One conspicuous aspect is the continuation of the extreme decline in the reported cases of motor vehicle theft. The fact that all new vehicles are equipped with electronic immobilisers must have played a great role with regard to this downward trend which it has been possible to observe for ten years.
However, the fact that other preventive measures (e.g. coded car radios) are also taking effect is shown by the decrease in the number of thefts from motor vehicles. In this respect, the preferred stolen goods and attack targets at the moment are navigation systems from motor vehicles.

House Burglary - Preventive Measures Showing Successes
In the Federal Republic of Germany, a total of 109,736 house burglaries including 40,200 attempts (36.6 percent) were reported in 2005. This constitutes a decrease of 14,419 cases or 11.6 percent (in the preceding year: 124,155 cases).
Every single case of house burglary is a serious intrusion on the private sphere of the victims and results in extremely negative effects on their feeling of security and thus on their quality of life.
Over a third (35.1 percent) of all the reported house burglaries took place during the day (time of the offence: between 6.00 a.m. and 9.00 p.m.). Compared with 2004, a decline of 9.7 percent can be recorded here as well.
Viewed as an overall tendency, the success rates in solving house burglary are constant (in 2001: 18.7 percent; in 2002: 19.6 percent; in 2003: 18.0 percent; in 2004: 19.5 percent; in 2005: 19.6 percent).
The positive effect of preventive measures is indicated not only by the lower number of cases but also by the proportion of attempted theft by means of house burglary which has risen from 28.3 percent (in 1993) to 36.6 percent.

Computer and Internet Crimes - Growing Phenomenon Field
All in all, a structural change in crimes is clearly recognisable in the last 15 years, as is proven impressively by:

• a falling number of criminal offences relating to theft crimes
• stagnating figures with regard to violent crime charges
• a significant rise in fraud crimes

This development may also be attributed to the utilisation of the Internet as the means of committing criminal offences (computer crimes in the wider sense).
For this purpose, the cases have been recorded separately since 2004. However, only ten federal states participated in this survey at first in 2004 and, for reasons relating to program technology, it was not yet possible to take account of the corresponding data from Bavaria and Lower Saxony in 2005. Nevertheless, the figures offer an overview of the growing significance of the "Internet as the means of committing the offences".
The number of all the reported cases is 118,036. In this respect, the largest proportion is to be found in the field of obtaining goods or trade credit by false pretences with 63,470 criminal offences and a success rate of 92.4 percent in solving the cases. At the national level, the number of cases of obtaining goods or trade credit by false pretences rose by 11.5 percent between 2004 and 2005. Because the figures for Internet crime charges from Bavaria and Lower Saxony are not taken into consideration, it is not possible to reliably calculate the exact nationwide proportion of the cases of obtaining goods or trade credit by false pretences committed via the Internet. However, it may be expected that the proportion must be approx. 31.0 percent as in North Rhine-Westphalia.
With 52,911 reported cases in 2005, the number of cases in the field of the Internet offences for North Rhine-Westphalia exhibits a substantial rise of 72.6 percent (in 2004: 30,660 cases). However, it is positive that only 8,019 of these criminal offences were not solved in 2005. This represents a success rate of 84.8 percent.
Even if the proportion of computer crimes with the "Internet as the means of committing the offences" in the total number of criminal offences in North Rhine-Westphalia (as at the national level too) is (still) very small (in NRW: 3.6 percent of the total number of criminal offences), the new crime forms associated with the Internet must indeed be viewed attentively due to the rates of increase which have been established since the separate recording began. Here, there is a need to further extend crime prevention measures in cooperation between all the people bearing responsibility in society, including the citizens. It is precisely them who can contribute to reducing the number of cases by being aware of security matters when using the "Internet" medium.
All in all, the federal government, the federal states and the local authorities have already made enormous efforts to guarantee the internal security in Germany at a high level. Numerous security and public order partnerships, crime prevention councils and bodies, federal state prevention councils and also Deutsches Forum für Kriminalprävention (DFK - the "German Forum for Crime Prevention") are making important contributions to this.

Source:2005 Police Crime Statistics for the Federal Republic of Germany