A study funded by the German government has found that the recent influx of mostly young, male migrants has led to an increase in violent crime.

The study by criminologist Christian Pfeiffer uses figures from the northern state of Lower Saxony to examine the impact of refugee arrivals on crime in 2015 and 2016.

Published Wednesday, the study attributes a 10.4 percent rise in violent crimes in the state during those two years almost exclusively to refugees.

A study funded by Angela Merkel's government has found the arrival of young, male refugees between 2015 and 2016 caused a 10.4 per cent rise in crime

A study funded by Angela Merkel’s government has found the arrival of young, male refugees between 2015 and 2016 caused a 10.4 per cent rise in crime

During 2015 more than a million migrants arrived in Germany after Merkel threw open the borders with the pledge: ‘We can do it.’ 

Pfeiffer, the former Minister of Justice of Lower Saxony, found that north African migrants were the most likely group to commit offences while Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis were among the least likely, according to Der Spiegel. 

This is because war refugees from the Middle East are told they will be allowed to remain in the country and are therefore more likely to play be the rules, Pfeiffer said.

Meanwhile those who do not qualify for refugee status are told ‘you have no chances here, you must all go back home’, he noted.

This drives a rise in crime since the group feel they have nothing to loose. 

Pfeiffer calls on the EU to secure its borders and for more money to be spent on an effective return procedure for refugees who cannot enter, with additional money to support them in their home countries to stop them coming back.

He wrote: ‘We cannot be the land that laboriously picks up all the [migrants].

‘I think it is time now to use the new coalition talks for a new perspective in refugee policy, namely to invest huge amounts of money for a return program.

‘It is difficult to let them all in and then bring them back home in a return procedure, so the whole return program depends on whether the EU manages to make the external borders more secure.’

Pfeffier’s study found that a third of the victims of refugee crime are refugees themselves, rising to 90 per cent for the most serious crimes such as homicide.

His team found that living conditions in detention centres, where dozens of young men of different ethnicities and religions are held together in cramped conditions, contributed to the problem.

Pfeiffer also noted the presence of women has a calming effect on male refugees, and said the idea of reuniting families to reduce violence was ‘not stupid’.

He also called for language courses, sports and internships and care concepts to be offered to young refugees to help prevent crimes from happening.

 



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk