Data published this week reveal Switzerland’s cantonal crime hotspot, a phenomenon connected to geography.
In 2023, after a sharp rise, the canton of Basel-City recorded the largest number of violent crimes and the highest per capita rates of theft and burglary. The rate of violent crime reached 13.2 per 1,000 residents in the city in 2023.
The number of property crimes, which includes theft and burglary rose to 21,329 in 2023, a figure 18% higher than in 2022.
The canton of Basel-City borders France and Germany. This means there are numerous points where someone can flee cross the border into a neighbouring country. An expert told SRF this makes it easy to escape after committing a crime. Basel Police cannot follow criminals across the border because they have no jurisdiction in France or Germany.
According to the city’s Police there are many more delinquent asylum seekers than before. Figures from the public prosecutor’s office support this view. While criminal charges against Swiss citizens and registered foreign residents fell, the proportion of crimes committed by asylum seekers rose by 38%.
“We have groups of young men from Maghreb countries who keep us very busy”, a Basel Police official told SRF. Although the spokesperson was quick to stress that under no circumstances was she suggesting all Maghreb residents were criminals.
The police hope accelerated asylum processing will help. The new process, which quickly identifies applications with no merit, should allow faster deportation back to the applicant’s country of origin. Nationalities with high application failure rates are also associated with rising crime rates, something that can hopefully be managed down by faster identification of unwarranted asylum requests and eventual deportation.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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