Danes with immigrant backgrounds are five times more likely to commit crimes than ethnic Danes

Copenhagen Post:

Having a non-Danish background means you are much more likely to commit a crime, a new report from the Ministry of Justice reveals.

Last year, the police pressed charges against five times as many second-generation immigrants than ethnic Danes, when measured by 1000 people in each population group. First-generation immigrants committed twice as many crimes as Danes did.

The ministry pointed out, however, that young people constituted a much higher proportion of second-generation immigrants than among the rest of the population. Young people commit much more crimes than the middle-aged and the elderly, regardless of ethnic background, the report stated.

Justice Minister Lene Espersen told national broadcaster DR that she found the statistics shocking.

'It's an overrepresentation that screams in your face that we need a massive effort to turn the development,' she said.

The immigration-sceptical Danish People's Party requested that the ministry collected the statistics, but Espersen said she hoped every party would participate in a discussion of what lay hidden behind the figures.

She said she did not fear that the information would increase the nation's hostility towards immigrants and their descendants, if only the trend was stopped.

'If the figures continue to develop in this unfortunate direction, there will be more prejudices against these groups, who will find it more difficult to find training positions and jobs, which in turn will harm integration even more,' she said.

She said she hoped the statistics could be used both to find the worst criminals and to increase their efforts to prevent first-time offenders from embarking on a criminal career.

'There are unbelievably many young people with immigrant backgrounds, who get involved in petty crime and are charged. That's why I've asked all 54 police districts to go through their plans, adjust them, and report what their strategy is. The information will be collected in a report before next year,' Espersen said.

The ministry has emphasised that the results of the investigation should be taken with a grain of salt, but Espersen said the statistics were not misleading.

'It's clear, that if you regulate the results for both age and social status, the difference would not be as obvious as it is, but it is still significantly higher. We can't hush the problems down and say it's just because of social status and overrepresentation of youngsters. They are over-represented regardless of how you twist and turn the figures,' the minister said.

Young immigrants commit more crime

On Europe's Immigrants