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As of June 2022, there were a total of 56,557 people in prison in Germany. The majority of people, 40,199, were serving a prison sentence. Almost 3,000 inmates were in juvenile detention centers. 

Crime solving rates

The procedure that follows solving a crime is usually offering a deal to the perpetrator or taking them to court, where, if found guilty, they can be imprisoned. The police in Germany have a clearance rate of around 58 percent, and the share of solved cases has generally increased since 2013. When it comes to white collar crime, however, there is a much higher clearance rate, almost 92 percent. A contributing factor to this could be that white-collar crime often has a paper trail, which helps investigators trace the crime to a specific person. In contrast, property damage has quite a low clearance rate, since 2013 it has been consistently under 30 percent. This is likely because there is often no victim to recount what happened, and so it is harder to find the perpetrators.

Which crimes are the most common?

The most common crimes committed in Germany are either theft or aggravated theft. Out of all crimes committed in Germany, the former offense accounted for almost a fifth of all crimes and the latter for around 14 percent. The least frequently committed crimes were sexual offenses, as well as offenses that included an attempt to take someone’s life or taking their life. Since 2021, there has been a steady increase in the number of violent crimes in Germany. This is of course a worrying trend. However, it is still unclear whether this increase is a short-term post pandemic trend or if violent crime is on the rise more permanently.