Представлена сравнительная характеристика роста преступности в европейских странах конца 20 - начала 21 века. Отражены данные миграционных агентств и статистика полиции. Представлен анализ степени интеграции мусульман в европейских странах и рост преступности в следствии иммиграционного кризиса.
Райко А.Н. Студент 4 курса, Гродненский филиал БИП
Научный руководитель Суходольский А.А. Доцент, Гродненский филиал БИП
Current mass migration into European countries is categorized by media and some politicians as a crisis with far-reaching consequences. The three most apparent consequences of this mass migration are ethnic and cultural clashes, massive crime increases, and excessive strain on the economy. The subject of this short overview is a crime increase related to massive migration.
The noticeable immigration flow into the European countries started after the WWII, and the common features of the first wave of immigration was the willingness of the newcomers to integrate into the new society, though national features differed from country to country.
In the early period of post-war immigration to the UK, the issues of immigrant integration into the society were mostly of sociologists’ concern. There was an assumption that members of ethnic minority groups would not be more criminalized that the majority white population. Back in 1972 an investigation into police and immigrant relations showed that ‘black people were more law-abiding than the general population’. The 1992 research proved that there was also little evidence that Black and Asian immigrants cause an increase in crime rates. Today the media pushes the idea that certain ethnic groups within the UK are more likely to commit crimes and end up in prison as a result of this. The situation with ethnic crime began to deteriorate at the turn of the century. In 2000 a nationwide study statistics proved that some ethnic groups were more likely to offend. The white population of the UK made up 94.5% of the total population but only made up 82% of the prison population. The black population made up 1.8% of the UK’s total population but made up 12.1% of the prison population. In contrast the Asian representation in this study showed that they made up 2.7% of the UK’s total population and had a prison population of 2.8%. According to the study the majority of first generation immigrants appeared to be law-abiding citizens and the greater part of the victims of ethnic crime was the members of the same ethnic minority. Today the situation is somewhat different and native white people very often become the victims of ethnic crimes.
Some researchers argue that the greater likelihood for ethnic minority groups, particularly Black ethnic groups, to be criminalised (arrested and imprisoned, for example) reflects their greater involvement in crime. Other researchers argue that ethnic differences in criminalisation stem from institutional racism within the criminal justice system.
Another example of the repercussions of mass migration is the nation of Sweden. The population of the country is just 9.6 million. Since the 1970’s, Sweden’s foreign-born population has increased 783 per cent. Since 1975, Sweden has experienced a 535 per cent increase in sexual offences. Compared to native Swedes, immigrants commit 310% more lethal crimes. 85% of rapists are non-Swedish immigrants or their descendants. Statistics now show a very oppressive forecast: 1 out of every 4 Swedish women will be raped in their lifetime.
The most serious situation with migrants seems to be in Germany. The country is very attractive for immigrants because of high financial support for asylum seekers. The population of Germany is around 80 million people now, and by the year of 2020 Germany expects to have received over 10 million migrants, if urgent measures are not taken. The ethnic crime situation has been studied and recorded for a long time, and the studies show close relation between migration increase and ethnic crime increase.
Whereas the first generation of foreigners, the so-called guest workers of the 50s and 60s, showed no increased crime rates, studies in the 70s and 80s already revealed that young foreigners of the second and third generation of immigrants had considerably elevated crime rates. The data of the federal police statistics shows that the proportion of foreigners amongst 25 years old young offenders is between 17% and 33%, whereas the proportion of foreigners in the total population is between 10% and 16%. A study of the Lower Saxony criminological research institute demonstrated that 83% of the increase of crime rates for the 14-21 years old age group during the period from 1984-97 was caused by foreigners. When in 1993 the Immigration Law was changed the number of asylum seekers dropped considerably. In the same time the proportion of foreign suspects of crime with respect to the total number of police recorded suspects of crime dropped from 34% in 1993 to 25% in 2001.
The crimes committed by immigrants range from shoplifting through rape to terrorism, including suicide bombings. The recent examples are terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels. Sociologists and criminologists are working hard to identify the reasons for the mass involvement of ethnic minorities in criminal activities. The former argument of economic discrimination seems to be loosing ground, though some 10 years ago it was evident and proven by numerous surveys and not much difference was made between East European, Asian or African ethnic groups. The resent viewpoint is the total and utter fail of the policy of immigrants’ integration into the native communities. The least willing to integrate are the Muslim minorities in European countries.
Of the top 10 countries from which migrants are coming into the EU, 8 have a Muslim majority and Islamic culture. Of Germany’s 4.7 million Muslims, 65% consider themselves not integrated with German society. 52% prefer separation from German culture, and 52% want their children to attend an exclusively Islamic school. Of the UK’s 3 million Muslims, 90% don’t see themselves as integrated in the UK. 62% disagree with freedom of speech if it insults religion, 36% believe that the penalty for leaving Islam should be death, 33% strongly agree that a wife should do her husband’s bidding, and 35% of Muslims aged 18-29 believe suicide bombing is justified. Overall, 65% of Muslims in Europe say that sharia law is more important than the law of the country. This is not assimilation or integration; this is an absolutely irreconcilable difference in views and values between people of different cultures.
The situation with Islamic immigration seems to be out of control. During last decade the whole districts of European cities and towns got the majority of Islamic population and with it the Islamic ideological and cultural infrastructure. Some people call such areas ‘ethnic ghettoes’. Others insist on using absolutely not politically correct term - ‘territories seized by aliens” - the term more acceptable in wartime.
The resent wave of migration will definitely result in crime increase. The structure of the refugee influx seems to be unusual. The generally accepted notion that these new migrants are fleeing from Syria to escape warfare and persecution is far from being true. The vast majority of these people are rather fleeing their countries’ economic conditions and heading en-mass to the wealthy welfare states. The majority of recent migrants to Europe is not Syrian, and they are not families. In the first quarter of 2015 only 16% of asylum seekers were from Syria, and in the second quarter only 21%. In 2014, 70% of all EU asylum applicants were male. Of the 680,000 migrants that reached Europe via the Mediterranean from January to October last year, 82% were adults, and 84% of those adults were men. It looks more like an invasion army.
The EU political elite seem to be unable if not unwilling to take any intelligible measures to control the situation. They are just planning to start work on the development of new migration rules and legislation; meanwhile the clashes between the refugees and native population worsen the police crime reports.