When it comes to gang crime, break-ins and violence, the children of immigrants are increasingly represented in the statistics, MetroXpress newspaper reports.
Even if circumstances concerning income and residence are taken into consideration, second-generation immigrants are far more likely to commit these kinds of crimes than ethnic Danes, according to the latest survey by Danmarks Statistik.
The number of male second-generation immigrants from non-western countries convicted of any kind of crime has been on a steady rise since 2007, when 1,028 were charged with criminal offences. That number reached 1,661 in 2012 – a rise of 60 percent in five years.
And it's especially men aged between 20 and 29 who are most often charged with violence and break-ins.
Minister has a solution
To deal with the rising crime level, Justice Minister Karen Hækkerup (S) said she wants to cut child support to immigrant families.
"The rise is concerning," she told MetroXpress. "We try to get councils and police to get a hold of young people early on. A solution could be to take away child support to the parents if their kids don't show up to school in the morning and end up in crime again."
As minister of social affairs and integration, Hækkerup announced a similar proposal in May 2013 when she wanted councils to start cutting the benefits of parents who did not ensure that their children obeyed the law.
