The increasing crime rate was actually the topic of “Markus Lanz”. But soon it was also about the situation of the traffic light coalition – and the role of the FDP.
The crime rate in Germany is increasing: Around 11.5 percent more crimes were registered in 2022 than in the previous year. One of the sad highlights was the attack on police officers on New Year’s Eve in Neukölln. Minister of Justice Buschmann tried to explain the increase in “Markus Lanz”. If he still found approval here, things looked a little different in the discussion about the situation in the traffic light coalition.
The guests
- Marco Buschmann, Federal Minister of Justice (FDP)
- Henrike Rossbach, journalist
- Dirk Peglow, police officer and chairman of the BDK (Association of German Criminal Investigators)
- Anette Dowideit, journalist
Buschmann: Crime as a result of the Corona years
If the FDP Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann has his way, the reason for the increase in the crime rate is at least partly a consequence of the corona pandemic. “What we found is that we had a downward trend in certain crimes during the Corona years – and that unfortunately a lot is now being made up for and normalizing. I think that we see violent crime among young people as a consequence of what we think young people in the Corona years,” explained Buschmann. “We all know the statistics of suicide and depression. We know from medicine that these phenomena often have similar causes. That aggression towards oneself is a symptom in some people and the same causes in other people aggression towards others trigger. That’s a thesis that’s driving a lot of scientists and politicians at the moment.” Journalist Henrike Roßbach said: “Dealing with children and young people in the corona pandemic will keep us busy for a long time anyway.”
Police officer Dirk Peglow even put the accuracy of the police statistics into perspective: “The police crime statistics only show what we as the police have handed over to the public prosecutor’s office. We’re talking bright field here.” If one were malicious, Peglow said, one could claim that the current police statistics do not reflect the current crime situation, but that they are a record of police employment over the past year.
Journalist Anette Dowideit brought New Year’s Eve in Neukölln into play. “Especially the example of New Year’s Eve in Neukölln is one that showed very emphatically how little the theoretical possibilities were really exhausted in the case,” she explained – and added: “Two reporters from my team were out and about in Neukölln in the days that followed , spoke to young people who said quite openly: ‘I was there too. Nothing happened there, the police took my personal details.’ You notice how little respect they have for the police and criminal investigation authorities. It’s fatal when you have the feeling that you can do whatever you want and nothing happens.”
Peglow: Crime isn’t a question of origin
Peglow acknowledged an increasing escalation to the police, but said one should not put too much emphasis on the origin of the perpetrators. “Crime is not a question of origin, but a question of socialization, the milieu in which one moves, the friends one has. We should say that again and again when we talk about the issue of refugee and foreigner crime.” It is by no means silent, but: “We have to discuss it, but we have to do it in full sentences.”
Buschmann then spoke out in favor of more consistency in criminal prosecution: “Anyone who tramples on the legal system must also feel the consequences. But this must always be commensurate with the guilt. We mustn’t exaggerate, otherwise you can young people who sometimes Make mistakes, get off track too much. We can’t throw everyone in jail straight away, that wouldn’t make sense either. But we have to show that we don’t accept that.”
Discussion about coalition dispute
Buschmann had previously had to ask himself questions about the mood within the coalition. The FDP man quoted himself on Twitter: “I didn’t join a party to be someone’s coalition partner. I joined the FDP to do liberal politics.” And added to “Lanz”: “I don’t care who helps me, as long as I can do liberal politics”.
