In 2023, German police registered around 214,100 cases of violent crime, which was a large increase compared with the year before. During the specified period, figures peaked in 2007. Violent crimes are characterized by the use of force or even weapons on a victim.

Since 2016, the number of crimes per 100,000 inhabitants has been on a downward trend and was at its lowest in 2021, although this was likely due to the lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, crime rates have risen again. In 2023, the police recorded roughly ***** criminal offenses per 100,000 inhabitants. Youth criminal suspects Since the number of crimes is increasing, so is the number of suspects. Concerningly, the number of juvenile suspects has seen a rather significant increase and is currently at its ************ since 2016. Suspects who are considered in the juvenile category are aged 14 to 17 years old. In Germany, children under the age of 14 cannot be prosecuted and if they commit a crime, then social services usually step in to try and help. In general, punishments for those convicted are much more lenient as it is often considered that due to their age, they may not have been aware of the repercussions of their actions. For example, regardless of the crime committed, no child under the age of 18 can be tried as an adult. In contrast, in England and Wales, there were around ***** people aged between 15 and 20 in prison. Crimes solving rate With a higher crime rate, it is also important to consider how many crimes are solved. Once a crime is solved, the hope is that the victim can get some type of closure and answers, and also that the perpetrator faces justice for the crimes they committed. In 2023, the police solved around **** million crimes in Germany and for the past three years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of crimes solved. Some cases are, of course, easier to solve than others. Crimes of arson and other fire-hazard-related crimes had a comparably low clearance rate at around ** percent. In contrast, drug-related offenses were much more frequently solved. Even though 2023 saw the lowest clearance rate in 20 years, it was still at ** percent.

This data is provided on a one-time basis from time to time, and is public data that provides crime statistics by region compiled by the National Police Agency as of 2023. Various crime types such as violent crimes, intelligent crimes, theft, and violence are subdivided into city/county/district levels, and for foreign criminals, crime occurrence figures by nationality (such as China, Vietnam, and Russia) are also included. This data can be used to analyze regional crime concentration, crime patterns related to foreigners, and spatial distribution by crime type. This data is used for establishing local security strategies by the police, crime prevention plans in areas with a high concentration of foreigners, space-based crime research by research institutes, and establishment of regional prevention measures by public institutions.

The number of criminal offenses recorded in Germany fluctuated during the specified period. In 2023, around **** million crimes were registered, compared to **** million in 2015. The data are based on police criminal statistics, which are compiled by the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt). The statistics include all criminal offenses known to the police, as well as attempts to commit a crime. Not included are minor breaches of the law, crimes against the state and traffic offenses.

Police-reported organized crime, by most serious violation (homicide and attempted murder, assault, sexual violations, kidnapping and hostage taking, human trafficking, robbery and theft, firearm and weapons violations, extortion and criminal harassment, arson, forgery and fraud, child pornography, criminal organization involvement, probation and court violations, drug possession and trafficking, and other violations), Canada (selected police services), 2016 to 2024.

The Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) collects crime reports from more than 500 New York State police and sheriffs’ departments. DCJS compiles these reports as New York’s official crime statistics and submits them to the FBI under the National Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. UCR uses standard offense definitions to count crime in localities across America regardless of variations in crime laws from state to state. In New York State, law enforcement agencies use the UCR system to report their monthly crime totals to DCJS. The UCR reporting system collects information on seven crimes classified as Index offenses which are most commonly used to gauge overall crime volume. These include the violent crimes of murder/non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault; and the property crimes of burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. Police agencies may experience reporting problems that preclude accurate or complete reporting. The counts represent only crimes reported to the police but not total crimes that occurred.

The data, by region, contains: * the number of violations under the Youth Criminal Justice Act * child pornography * sexual violations against children * luring a child via a computer * making sexually explicit material available to children The survey was designed to measure the incidence of crime in our society and its characteristics. The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, in co-operation with the policing community, collects police-reported crime statistics through the UCR survey. Adapted from Statistics Canada, CANSIM Table 252-0077, 2015. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. *[ CANSIM]: Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management System *[UCR]: Uniform Crime Reporting

The number of recorded criminal offenses in Poland in the years 1999 to 2022 showed a downward trend, from over *********** in 1999 to ******* in 2022. At the same time, the number of detected crimes has decreased over the years.  Recorded crimes in Poland  The detection rate of crimes in Poland has steadily risen since 1999. While only ** percent of crimes were detected that year, by 2022, this figure had increased to over ** percent. However, there were major differences in the development of criminality depending on the type of crime. While road traffic offenses have fallen enormously recently, other crimes like economic crime has risen strongly.  Law enforcement and prisons  Since 2008, the number of full-time police officers in Poland has remained relatively stable. The situation was similar for the number of people in prison and remand centers. While criminality in some sectors rose sharply, the number of prison inmates remained relatively constant at just over ******. 

In 2022, a total of ******* cases of bodily harm were recorded by German police. Of these, ****** were attempted and ******* were completed.

A total of ***** incidents with police involvement were recorded at the Oktoberfest in Munich in Germany in 2024. Of these, *** were bodily assaults.

Between 2014 and 2023, the annual number of crimes committed in the country decreased. In 2014, the number of crimes reported by the police to the judicial authority amounted to 2.8 million, whereas in 2023, this figure decreased to 2.34 million. Crime in Italy In 2023, the most common crime in Italy was theft. The police reported about one million delinquencies to the juridical authority. The three regions with the highest number of thefts were Lombardy, Lazio, and Campania. Fiat Panda: the most frequently stolen passenger car in Italy Vehicle theft is another common crime in Italy, which in 2017 about 20 percent of Italians feared. In the year considered, the most frequently stolen passenger cars were the Fiat Panda, Fiat Punto, and Fiat Cinquecento.

The number of rape and sexual assault cases reported to the police in Germany peaked at ****** in 2024 during the period shown here. Previously, the highest number of cases, ******, had been recorded the year before. Based on the definition in criminal law, sexual assault includes rape, as well as other sexually driven physical attacks. Rape is defined as forcing a person to have sex. Increased crime clearance rate The question remains how high the number of unreported cases is. Reasons for not reporting a sexual assault vary among victims. In recent years, the German police reported increasing clearance rates for sexual crimes. In 2022, **** percent of rape and sexual assault cases were solved, compared to **** percent in 2016. In 2023, however this figure dropped to **** percent, perhaps due to the increase in the number of cases. Among males suspected of committing such crimes, over ** percent were young adults aged 18 to 21 years. Types of German police forces German police forces are divided into several different types, which all have clearly established tasks regulated by law. The Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA) is often compared to the FBI in the U.S. and investigates federal crimes, such as kidnapping. The Federal Police (Bundespolizei), works in railway stations, at airports, and seaports. They also protect borders, government buildings, and deal with organized crime and terrorism. The criminal police (Kriminalpolizei, Kripo), the only policemen not wearing in uniform in Germany, handle assault, murder, and rape cases, as well as theft. The uniformed police (Schutzpolizei, SchuPo), or beat police, are regularly visible in streets, as they are responsible for traffic safety, among other tasks, and may be approached directly by people in need of assistance or help.

In 2024, violent crime in France declined to approximately ******* recorded offenses, marking a notable drop compared to previous years. According to police crime statistics, this represents a decrease of over ****** cases from 2023, when ******* violent offenses were reported. This decline contrasts with the consistent rise in violent crime since 2016, when police recorded just ******* offenses against the person.

Among all criminal offenses recorded in Germany in 2023, simple theft had the highest share at **** percent. Fraud and aggravated theft rounded up the top three.

The crime rate in the United Kingdom was highest in England and Wales in 2023/24, at **** crimes per 1,000 people, compared with Scotland which had ** crimes per 1,000 population and Northern Ireland, at **** crimes per 1,000 people. During this time period, the crime rate of England and Wales has usually been the highest in the UK, while Scotland's crime rate has declined the most, falling from **** crimes per 1,000 people in 2002/03, to just **** by 2021/22. Overall crime on the rise In 2022/23 there were approximately **** million crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales, with this falling to **** million in 2023/24. Although crime declined quite significantly between 2002/03 and 2013/14, this trend has been reversed in subsequent years. While there are no easy explanations for the recent uptick in crime, it is possible that reduced government spending on the police service was at least partly to blame. In 2009/10 for example, government spending on the police stood at around **** billion pounds, with this cut to between ***** billion and ***** billion between 2012/13 and 2017/18. One of the most visible consequences of these cuts was a sharp reduction in the number of police officers in the UK. As recently as 2019, there were just ******* police officers in the UK, with this increasing to ******* by 2023. A creaking justice system During the period of austerity, the Ministry of Justice as a whole saw its budget sharply decline, from *** billion pounds in 2009/10, to just **** billion by 2015/16. Although there has been a reversal of the cuts to budgets and personnel in the justice system, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the depleted service hard in 2020. A backlog of cases grew rapidly, putting a strain on the ability of the justice system to process cases quickly. As of the first quarter of 2023, for example, it took on average *** days for a crown court case to go from offence to conclusion, compared with *** days in 2014. There is also the issue of overcrowding in prisons, with the number of prisoners in England and Wales dangerously close to operational capacity in recent months.

In 2023, murder and manslaughter charges had the highest crime clearance rate in the United States, with 57.8 percent of all cases being cleared by arrest or so-called exceptional means. Motor vehicle theft cases had the lowest crime clearance rate, at 8.2 percent. What is crime clearance? Within the U.S. criminal justice system, criminal cases can be cleared (or closed) one of two ways. The first is through arrest, which means that at least one person has either been arrested, charged with an offense, or turned over to the court for prosecution. The second way a case can be closed is through what is called exceptional means, where law enforcement must have either identified the offender, gathered enough evidence to arrest, charge, and prosecute someone, identified the offender’s exact location, or come up against a circumstance outside the control of law enforcement that keeps them from arresting and prosecuting the offender. Crime in the United States Despite what many people may believe, crime in the United States has been on the decline. Particularly in regard to violent crime, the violent crime rate has almost halved since 1990, meaning that the U.S. is safer than it was almost 30 years ago. However, due to the FBI's recent transition to a new crime reporting system in which law enforcement agencies voluntarily report crime data, it is possible that figures do not accurately reflect the total amount of crime in the country.

In 2024/25, there were approximately 78,800 robbery offences reported by the police in England and Wales, compared with 81,000 in the previous year. During the provided time period, the reporting year with the highest number of robberies was 2002/03, when there were around 110,270. From 2002/03 onwards, robberies in England and Wales generally declined and reached a low of just 50,150 offences in 2014/15. Robberies increased from this year onwards, however, with 2019/20 seeing the highest number of offences since 2006/07. What types of crime are increasing? Unfortunately, the rise in robbery offences seen recently has not occurred in isolation. Overall crime in England and Wales also fell for several years prior to 2014/15 before suddenly climbing upwards and reaching over 6.74 million offences in 2022/23. Violent crime and sexual offences have both increased substantially, and while overall theft has declined, shoplifting offences reached a peak of almost 444,000 in 2023/24. This crime spike has led to a focus on the police, and if they have enough manpower and resources to reverse this trend. After the number of UK police officers was cut by around 20,000 between 2010 and 2016, the number of officers in 2023 was the most since 2010. At the same time, spending on police services was cut noticeably for the period between 2013/14 and 2016/17, with these cuts also being reversed from 2017/18 onwards. Robbery and UK justice system Robbery is considered one of the most serious criminal offences in defined as both a violent crime and a property crime. The offence carries one of the longest average prisons sentences in England and Wales, at 47.7 months, or almost four years. Serious crimes such as this would typically be tried in Crown Courts, yet as of the first quarter of 2023, there is a significant backlog of cases awaiting trial. This has led to an increasingly delayed justice system, with the average time an offence reached a conclusion in crown courts reaching 676 days in 2023, or almost two years. At the back end of the justice system, prisons are struggling with capacity issues and have been operating with very little spare capacity for several months as of 2024.

In 2023, the number of full-time police officers amounted to nearly 97 thousand in Poland, a decrease of 4,300 law enforcement officers compared to the previous year.

With a crime rate of 122.1 per 1,000 population, Cleveland, in North East England, had the highest crime rate of all the police force areas in England and Wales in 2024/25. High crime rates are evident in other areas of northern England, such as West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester at 114.5 and 108.2, respectively. In the English capital, London, the crime rate was 105.5 per 1,000 people. The lowest crime rate in England was in the relatively rural areas of Wiltshire in South West England, as well as North Yorkshire. Overall crime in England and Wales The number of crimes in England and Wales reached approximately 6.74 million in 2022/23, falling slightly to 6.66 million in 2023/24. Overall crime has been rising steadily across England and Wales for almost a decade, even when adjusted for population rises. In 2022/23, for example, the crime rate in England and Wales was 93.6, the highest since 2006/07. When compared with the rest of the United Kingdom, England and Wales is something of an outlier, as crime rates for Scotland and Northern Ireland have not followed the same trajectory of rising crime. Additionally, there has been a sharp increase in violent crimes and sexual offences since the mid-2010s in England and Wales. While theft offences have generally been falling, the number of shoplifting offences reached a peak of 440,000 in 2023/24. Troubled justice system under pressure Alongside rising crime figures, many indicators also signal that the justice system is getting pushed to breaking point. The percentage of crimes that are solved in England and Wales was just 5.7 percent in 2023, with sexual offences having a clearance rate of just 3.6 percent. Crimes are also taking far longer than usual to pass through the justice system. In 2023, it took an average of 676 days for a crown court case to reach a conclusion from the time of the offence. This is most likely related to the large backlog of cases in crown courts, which reached over 62,200 in 2023. Furthermore, prisons in England and Wales are dangerously overcrowded, with just 1,458 spare prison places available as of June 2024.