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3.1.1.3 Official Data on Hate Crimes
The most frequently cited source for hate crimes in Germany are the annual reports of the Offices for the Protection of the Constitution at the federal and state levels (Verfassungsschutzberichte des Bundes und der Länder) published by the Ministeries of the Interior. (1) Based on data provided by the Regional and Federal Criminal Police Offices, these reports describe crime trends and statistics for both the nation and the states. The Ministers of Justice of the 16 federal states determine which statistics will be released. These annual reports only provide limited data on the victim groups, even though they offer useful information on right-wing extremist organizations, parties and their main activities and strategies. While regional and local police departments in Germany have, in the meantime, begun to collect data on crime victims based on their sexual orientation, disability, social status, ethnicity and religion, this information is not usually made public. (2) The Federal Minister of the Interior publishes comprehensive press releases based on police statistics for politically motivated criminality of the right-wing at least once a year.
Table 1: Politically motivated criminality – right-wing:
Violent acts and other offences with an extremist background 2005-2007
| Type of crime | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| Violent offences (total) | 958 | 1.047 | 980 |
| Attempted murder/manslaughter | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bodily harm | 816 | 919 | 845 |
| Arson attacks | 14 | 18 | 24 |
| Causing an explosion | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Other violent crimes | 123 | 109 | 109 |
| Other (non-violent) offences (total) | 14.403 | 16.550 | 16.196 |
| Damage of property | 445 | 391 | 821 |
| Threat/coercion | 90 | 150 | 146 |
| Propaganda offences | 10.881 | 12.627 | 11.935 |
| Disturbing the peace of the dead | 30 | 14 | 18 |
| Other crimes, mainly incitement of the people | 2.957 | 3.368 | 3.276 |
Source: Annual Reports of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (2005, 2006 and 2007); numbers based on statistics of the Federal Criminal Police Office.
Table 2: Crimes with anti-Semitic and xenophobic background 2005-2007
| Background of crime | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| Xenophobic (total) | 2.493 | 3.294 | 2.866 |
| Xenophobic: violent offences | 373 | 511 | 440 |
| Anti-Semitic: violent offences | 50 | 44 | 61 |
Source: German Federal Ministry of the Interior: press releases on politically motivated crimes for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. (3)
Table 3: Politically motivated violent offenses (right-wing) 2005-2007
| absolute figures | relative (per 100.000 inhabitants) | ||||||
| Federal state | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | Federal state | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| North Rhine-Westphalia | 121 | 145 | 122 | Hesse | 0,41 | 0,46 | 0,48 |
| Lower-Saxony | 119 | 138 | 110 | Bavaria | 0,62 | 0,38 | 0,66 |
| Brandenburg | 97 | 90 | 93 | North Rhine-Westphalia | 0,67 | 0,8 | 0,68 |
| Saxony | 89 | 77 | 90 | Baden-Württemberg | 0,66 | 0,92 | 0,73 |
| Saxony-Anhalt | 107 | 111 | 87 | Rhineland-Palatinate | 0,59 | 0,59 | 0,96 |
| Bavaria | 77 | 47 | 82 | Saarland | 1,42 | 0,76 | 1,15 |
| Baden-Württemberg | 71 | 99 | 78 | Hamburg | 1,15 | 1,66 | 1,25 |
| Thuringia | 53 | 55 | 61 | Lower-Saxony | 1,49 | 1,73 | 1,38 |
| Schleswig-Holstein | 55 | 65 | 59 | Berlin | 1,42 | 3,00 | 1,38 |
| Berlin | 48 | 102 | 47 | Mecklenburg-W. Pomerania | 1,63 | 1,58 | 1,95 |
| Rhineland-Palatinate | 24 | 24 | 39 | Schleswig-Holstein | 1,94 | 2,29 | 2,08 |
| Mecklenburg-W. Pomerania | 28 | 27 | 33 | Saxony | 2,07 | 1,8 | 2,12 |
| Hesse | 25 | 28 | 29 | Bremen | 1,36 | 0,3 | 2,41 |
| Hamburg | 20 | 29 | 22 | Thuringia | 2,25 | 2,36 | 2,64 |
| Bremen | 9 | 2 | 16 | Saxony-Anhalt | 4,29 | 4,49 | 3,56 |
| Saarland | 15 | 8 | 12 | Brandenburg | 3,78 | 3,52 | 3,65 |
Source: Ibid.
1. The main function of these offices is the surveillance of anti-constitutional activities in Germany and the monitoring of organizations that are considered a threat to the »free and democratic basic order.«
2. In response to criticism raised by international bodies on this information gap, the German government has cited privacy and data protection concerns for not reporting on the nationality, ethnic background, religious or sexual orientation of the victims of an attack. European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) 2001. Second Report on Germany, CRI (2001) 36, Strasbourg, p. 30.
3. Bundesministerium des Innern 2007. Entwicklung der politisch motivierten Kriminalität im Jahr 2007, press release, 10 Apr 2007, Berlin; Bundesministerium des Innern 2007. Bundesinnenministerium legt Zahlen zur politisch motivierten Kriminalität im Jahr 2006 vor, press release, 30 Mar 2007, Berlin; Bundesministerium des Innern 2006. Bundesinnenminister Schäuble zur Entwicklung der politisch motivierten Kriminalität im Jahr 2005, press release, 10 May 2006, Berlin.
(OPP)
