The number of knife-related crimes in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state has surged by nearly 50 percent. Young men are significantly overrepresented among both the suspected perpetrators and the victims, according to the Catholic news portal Kath.net a Kath.net.
Police crime statistics reveal that authorities recorded 4,191 knife-related offences in 2022. By 2023, this figure had risen to 6,221. One in three suspects was under the age of 21, with nearly 87 percent being male. Almost half of the suspects (47.4 percent) did not have a German passport.
Young men were also disproportionately represented among the victims. Of the 8,036 documented victims, one-third were under 21, and over three-quarters (76.5 percent) were male. Additionally, 38.3 percent of the victims were not in possession of a German passport.
In 2023, knife attacks in the german state of North Rhine-Westphalia claimed the lives of 198 people. A further 156 attacks were classified as attempted murders, and 2,450 were recorded as instances of bodily harm.
The official crime statistics happen to categorize these incidents under "victim crimes committed with knives," which encompasses a broad spectrum of offences, including murder, manslaughter, bodily harm, threats, and resistance against law enforcement – all involving the use of a knife V4NA reports.
Throughout Germany, knife attacks have proliferated dramatically, with over two-thirds of these offences attributed to migrants. The latest brutal terrorist attack (before this year's Christmas Market rampage) occurred in the city of Solingen, where at least three people were killed and eight others were seriously injured. During a festival held in the city’s main square, a man armed with a knife launched an indiscriminate attack against revelers.
As Magyar Nemzet had also reported, German conservative politician and anti-Islam activist Michael Sturzenberger was stabbed to death during a public appearance in Mannheim, Baden-Wurttemberg earlier this year. While praising Allah, the attacker injured several people and also stabbed a police officer in the neck, who later died of his injuries.
