NCJ Number
89225
Date Published
1982
Length
8 pages
Annotation
While only 5 percent of the general West German population are crime suspects, the percentage for foreigners is 15. Interpretations of such data, however, must consider that the majority of foreign residents is male, under age 45, and coping with extraordinary psychological stresses.
Abstract
Initially, the employment of foreign workers in German industry was viewed as a mutually advantageous economic expedient. The arrangement was to be temporary and no long-range policies were formulated for accommodating the guest workers. As their residences extended over years, families arrived in Germany, children were born there, and problems emerged regarding housing, employment, and cultural adaptation. Currently, unemployment is rising in Germany, but the native countries (Turkey, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Jugoslavia) are even less able to economically absorb any returning migrant workers. Germany must become resigned to an indefinite presence of the foreign population and must immediately adopt policies to hasten its assimilation and forestall the further development of hostile subcultures in its society. The criminal involvement of foreigners ranges from juvenile delinquency of the unemployed young to dealings with organized crime rings. The latter includes illegal immigration attempts, document falsification, drug and weapons smuggling, and terrorism. Furthermore, the social fabric is weakened by hostility and potential violence between the foreigners and members of the dominant culture as well as among foreigners of different nationalities and even between political factions of the same ethnic group.