Crime in Switzerland

Crime in Switzerland is combated by the Swiss police and other agencies.

Crime by type

Murder

Further information: List of countries by intentional homicide rate

In 2014, There were a total of 41 murders in Switzerland and had a murder rate of 0.49 per 100,000 population, the lowest raw figure and lowest rate for 33 years, since the start of the nationwide coordinated collection of statistical data, despite a strong growth of inhabitants (from 6.4 million to 8.1 million, +27%) over the same period.^[1]

Corruption

Main article: Corruption in Switzerland

The Transparency International Global Corruption Perception Index 2013 score for Switzerland is 86 (out of 100) and is the 5th best (out of 175) world-wide.^[2]

Crime statistics

In Switzerland, the police registered a total of 526,066 offenses under the Criminal Code in 2014 (-9% compared with previous year), of which were 186,708 or 35.5% cases of thefts (excluding vehicles, -14%), and 47,762 or 9% cases of thefts of vehicles (including bicycles, +8%), 41 killings (-28%) and 132 attempted murders (-13%). There were 556 cases of rape (-3%). Offenses against the Narcotics Act decreased by 16.8% to 80,986. Offenses against the Federal Act on Foreign Nationals decreased by 4.7% to a total of 39,544.^[1]

In 2014, 110,124 adults were convicted, of which 55,240 (50%) were convicted according to traffic regulation offences, 6,540 (+1.6%) for trafficking in narcotic substances, and 17,882 (-7.2%) for offenses against the Federal Act on Foreign Nationals.^[3] 83,014 or 83.4% of adult convicted people are male, and 42,289 or 42.5% of them Swiss citizens.^[4] In the same year, 11,484 minors (78% of them male, 68% of them of Swiss nationality, 64.2% aged either 16 or 17) were convicted.^[4]

Convictions for infliction of bodily harm have steadily increased throughout the 1990s and 2000s, with 23 convictions for serious injury and 831 for light injury in 1990 as opposed to 78 and 2,342, respectively, in 2005. Convictions for rape have also slightly increased, fluctuating between 61 and 100 cases per year in the period 1985 to 1995, but between 100 and 113 cases in the period 2000 to 2005. Consistent with these trends, convictions for threats or violence directed against officials has consistently risen in the same period, from 348 in 1990 to 891 in 2003.^[5]^[6]

Types of convictions

The number of convicted persons is given in the following tables.^[7] Each class of crime references the relevant section of the Strafgesetzbuch (Criminal Code, abbreviated as StGB in German), or Betäubungsmittelgesetz (abbr. BetmG, Narcotics Act), or the Strassenverkehrsgesetz (abbr. SVG, Swiss Traffic Regulations).

Year	Total Convicted Adults (StGB only)	Homicide (Art. 111,112,113,116 StGB)	Serious Bodily Injury (Art. 122 StGB)	Minor Bodily Injury (Art. 123 StGB)	Sexual Contact with Children (Art. 187 StGB)	Rape (Art. 190 StGB)	Theft (Art. 139 StGB)	Robbery (Art. 140 StGB)	Receiving Stolen Goods (Art. 160 StGB)	Embezzlement (Art. 138 StGB)	Fraud (Art. 146 StGB)	Narcotics Possession	Major Violation of Traffic Laws (Art. 90 Abs. 1&2 SVG)	Impaired Driving (Art. 91 SVG)
2005	26,199	105	95	2,439	416	110	5,967	497	1,249	906	1,469	5,510	22,015	16,466
2006	26,583	116	105	2,537	388	135	5,933	565	1,186	876	1,516	5,403	21,535	21,058
2007	24,265	105	94	2,262	386	139	5,502	524	930	805	1,597	5,090	21,294	20,108
2008	26,327	107	134	2,632	412	135	5,756	525	909	854	1,660	5,387	25,265	20,600
2009	27,727	103	129	2,655	388	129	6,449	533	941	859	1,566	5,533	25,557	19,711
2010	28,691	94	149	2,677	334	128	6,659	593	905	784	1,750	6,125	25,983	20,591
2011	29,128	82	127	2,721	274	86	6,950	442	1,007	716	1,767	4,710	23,590	18,882
2012	33,925	116	179	2,845	293	108	8,936	511	1,332	745	1,971	5,734	22,906	18,396
2013	35,325	114	178	2,843	317	98	9,491	654	1,433	670	2,307	6,087	22,277	17,465
2014	33,995	125	223	2,728	315	104	8,499	559	1,140	683	2,233	6,314	24,298	17,164
2015^a	31,560	91	210	2,409	312	81	7,230	462	909	637	2,278	6,545	22,946	16,368

^a 2015 conviction numbers may not include convictions overturned on appeal.

^ Due to privacy protection laws some convictions are not included.

Year	Total Convicted Minors (StGB only)	Homicide (Art. 111,112,113,116 StGB)	Serious Bodily Injury (Art. 122 StGB)	Minor Bodily Injury (Art. 123 StGB)	Sexual Contact with Children (Art. 187 StGB)	Rape (Art. 190 StGB)	Theft (Art. 139 StGB)	Robbery (Art. 140 StGB)	Receiving Stolen Goods (Art. 160 StGB)	Embezzlement (Art. 138 StGB)	Fraud (Art. 146 StGB)	Narcotics Possession	Major Violation of Traffic Laws (Art. 90 Abs. 1&2 SVG)	Impaired Driving (Art. 91 SVG)
2005	7,580	7	10	634	73	14	3,528	375	400	34	65	918	124	180
2006	7,769	7	22	644	118	19	3,418	330	390	35	51	1,019	126	189
2007	6,910	6	21	699	101	19	2,189	285	285	21	47	680	116	141
2008	6,975	4	24	688	80	17	1,998	334	272	17	57	560	101	125
2009	6,931	6	24	665	73	5	2,033	365	311	19	57	600	142	105
2010	7,613	13	36	770	71	17	2,410	413	242	19	51	565	119	141
2011	5,427	2	31	553	65	5	1,585	256	153	10	49	507	138	152
2012	5,070	2	34	476	71	8	1,620	303	164	25	56	554	74	124
2013	5,199	3	32	407	75	21	1,666	325	166	27	90	693	72	95
2014	4,911	3	33	392	66	9	1,387	240	162	25	70	832	86	126
2015^a	4,457	4	27	341	87	4	1,327	197	146	18	73	971	114	91

^a 2015 conviction numbers may not include convictions overturned on appeal.

^ Due to privacy protection laws some convictions are not included.

Historic conviction rates

The historic adult conviction rates are given in the following chart:^[7]

Year	Total Adult Convictions	Criminal Convictions			Narcotics Convictions			Traffic Convictions
Year	Total Adult Convictions	Total	Male	Swiss	Total	Male	Swiss	Total	Male	Swiss
1985	46,252	20,272	81.1%	66.8%	3,855	81.3%	69.9%	22,125	89.6%	74.5%
1990	52,030	19,810	80.2%	57.1%	4,176	81.8%	61.4%	28,044	88.5%	67.2%
1995	57,478	17,824	83.3%	55.0%	5,442	84.1%	53.7%	34,212	86.5%	63.3%
2000	68,654	20,614	85.2%	49.5%	6,798	70.7%	34.6%	41,242	85.0%	60.3%
2005	80,484	26,199	84.7%	49.7%	6,847	71.6%	33.3%	47,438	84.0%	55.5%
2006	85,477	26,583	84.8%	50.2%	6,792	70.1%	34.7%	52,102	83.7%	54.8%
2007	80,299	24,265	85.0%	51.3%	6,051	74.4%	35.3%	49,983	84.4%	53.9%
2008	88,147	26,327	84.5%	51.0%	6,240	77.2%	36.8%	55,580	83.5%	52.6%
2009	89,542	27,727	84.7%	48.5%	6,430	76.8%	34.8%	55,385	83.3%	52.4%
2010	93,187	28,691	84.0%	47.4%	7,006	78.7%	33.7%	57,490	83.0%	51.6%
2011	87,222	29,128	83.5%	44.9%	5,401	78.2%	32.6%	52,693	83.3%	50.6%
2012	95,702	33,925	83.8%	41.5%	6,562	80.0%	30.6%	55,215	82.0%	50.3%
2013	97,706	35,325	83.3%	40.3%	7,141	77.5%	28.9%	55,240	81.6%	48.8%
2014^a	98,582	32,911	82.6%	41.3%	7,392	76.2%	30.4%	58,279	80.4%	48.1%

^a 2014 conviction numbers may not include convictions overturned on appeal.

Age at conviction

The age of the individuals at the time of their convictions is given in this chart:^[7]

Year	18-19	20-24	25-29	30-34	35-39	40-44	45-49	50-59	60-69	70+
1985	7.9%	26.8%	18.6%	13.6%	10.4%	7.7%	5.4%	6.4%	2.5%	0.7%
1990	6.6%	26.4%	20.7%	14.5%	9.9%	7.5%	5.4%	6.1%	2.2%	0.7%
1995	5.4%	21.4%	20.8%	15.5%	11.5%	8.6%	6.5%	7.1%	2.5%	0.8%
2000	6.5%	19.3%	17.1%	15.5%	12.5%	9.7%	7.2%	8.3%	3.1%	0.9%
2005	7.2%	20.7%	15.4%	13.5%	12.4%	10.5%	7.4%	8.8%	3.1%	1.0%
2006	7.4%	20.6%	15.0%	12.6%	12.0%	10.7%	7.9%	9.2%	3.6%	1.0%
2007	7.5%	20.5%	15.0%	12.2%	12.1%	10.6%	7.9%	9.6%	3.5%	1.2%
2008	6.9%	20.7%	15.3%	12.2%	11.5%	10.1%	8.2%	9.7%	3.9%	1.4%
2009	7.2%	21.0%	15.9%	12.4%	11.2%	10.1%	8.1%	9.0%	3.8%	1.4%
2010	7.1%	20.7%	16.1%	12.3%	11.1%	10.2%	8.0%	9.5%	3.7%	1.4%
2011	6.5%	20.8%	16.8%	12.7%	11.0%	9.5%	7.9%	9.2%	4.0%	1.4%
2012	6.2%	19.9%	17.0%	13.7%	10.7%	9.5%	7.8%	9.3%	4.2%	1.7%
2013	5.9%	18.8%	17.3%	13.9%	11.0%	9.6%	8.2%	9.8%	3.9%	1.6%
2014^a	5.4%	17.7%	16.6%	14.2%	11.4%	9.6%	8.6%	10.4%	4.4%	1.8%

^a 2014 conviction numbers may not include convictions overturned on appeal.

Prisons

At the end of 2006, 5,888 people were interned in Swiss prisons, one third of them on remand , 31% of them Swiss citizens, 69% resident foreigners or illegal immigrants; excluding remand: 36% Swiss or 32 in 100,000, 64% foreigners or 160 in 100,000.

Crime dynamics

Immigrant criminality

The crime rate among resident foreigners ("immigrant criminality") is significantly higher (by a factor 3.7 counting convictions under criminal law in 2003).^[8] In 1997, there were for the first time more foreigners than Swiss among the convicts under criminal law (out of a fraction of 20.6% of the total population at the time). In 1999, the Federal Department of Justice and Police ordered a study regarding delinquency and nationality (Arbeitsgruppe "Ausländerkriminalität"), which in its final report (2001) found that a conviction rate under criminal law about 12 times higher among asylum seekers (4%), while the conviction rate among other resident foreigners was about twice as high (0.6%) compared to Swiss citizens (0.3%).^[9]

Individuals convicted of violations of the Strafgesetzbuches (StGB)^[10]
Year	Total persons convicted	Total adults convicted	Swiss adults convicted	Total non-citizen adults convicted	Percentage of Non-citizen adult convictions	B, C and Ci visa holders convicted	Other immigration status	Unknown immigration status
1999	27,493	21,101	10,314	10,787	51.1%	^a	^a	^a
2000	26,692	20,609	10,201	10,408	50.5%	^a	^a	^a
2001	26,804	20,052	10,233	9,819	49.0%	^a	^a	^a
2002	27,930	20,925	10,307	10,618	50.7%	^a	^a	^a
2003	30,068	22,966	11,115	11,851	51.6%	^a	^a	^a
2004	33,167	25,559	12,357	13,202	51.7%	^a	^a	^a
2005	33,778	26,198	13,025	13,173	50.3%	^a	^a	^a
2006	34,350	26,582	13,347	13,235	49.8%	^a	^a	^a
2007	31,189	24,280	12,455	11,825	48.7%	^a	^a	^a
2008	33,326	26,350	13,433	12,917	49.0%	6,746	4,619	1,552
2009	34,683	27,752	13,452	14,300	51.5%	7,397	5,410	1,493
2010	36,318	28,702	13,612	15,090	52.6%	7,377	6,228	1,485
2011	34,591	29,162	13,108	16,054	55.1%	7,317	7,366	1,371
2012	39,043	33,969	14,095	19,874	58.5%	7,989	9,922	1,963
2013	40,726	35,528	14,309	21,219	59.7%	8,345	10,568	2,306
2014	38,906	33,995	14,052	19,943	58.7%	8,577	9,362	2,004
2015 ^b	36,017	31,560	13,423	18,137	57.5%	8,151	8,305	1,681

^a Specific immigration status not collected

^b Final number may change due to appeals and trials still in progress

In 2010 for the first time was a statistic published which listed delinquency by nationality (based on 2009 data). To avoid distortions due to demographic structure, only the male population aged between 18 and 34 was considered for each group. From this study it became clear that crime rate is highly correlated on the country of origin of the various migrant groups. Thus, immigrants from Germany, France and Austria had a significantly lower crime rate than Swiss citizens (60% to 80%), while immigrants from Angola, Nigeria and Algeria had a crime rate of above 600% of that of Swiss population. In between these extremes were immigrants from Former Yugoslavia, with crime rates of between 210% and 300% of the Swiss value.^[11]

The full report listed 24 nationalities plus the crime rate of Swiss citizens (fixed at 100%), and the average value of all foreign citizens combined, at 160%. Commentators expressed surprise^[12] at the clear geographical structure of the list, giving, in decreasing order, Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans, Southern Europe and Western and Central Europe. The Federal Statistics Office published the study with the caveat that the sizes of the groups under comparison vary considerably. For example, the net impact of a crime rate increased by 530% among 500 Angolans will still be five times smaller than a crime rate increased by 30% among 46'000 Portuguese. The country is a target for foreign criminals on account of its reputation as an affluent nation. According to British criminal Colin Blaney in his autobiography 'Undesirables', groups of English thieves have frequently targeted the nation in the past due to the fact its citizens are relatively wealthy and the fact that they are naïve about crime due to the country's low crime rate.^[13]

rank	country of origin	crime rate (relative value)	registered population (thousands)^[14]	male young adults (thousands)^[15]
1	Angola	6.3	4.4	0.54
2	Nigeria	6.2	2.9	1.5
3	Algeria	6.0	4.1	1.2
4	Côte d'Ivoire	5.9	1.7	0.44
5	Dominican Republic	5.8	5.9	1.0
6	Sri Lanka	4.7	31	4.4
7	Congo (Kinshasa)	4.7	5.8	0.78
8	Cameroon	4.4	4.3	0.97
9	Morocco	4.3	7.4	1.6
10	Tunisia	4.2	6.3	2.1
11	Iraq	3.7	8.0	2.9
12	Colombia	3.2	4.2	0.71
13	Turkey	3.2	73	16
14	the former Serbia and Montenegro (includes Kosovo)	3.1	188	36
15	Brazil	3.0	17	2.5
16	Egypt	2.7	2.1	0.81
17	Croatia	2.4	35	5.0
18	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2.3	37	6.2
19	Republic of Macedonia	2.3	60	12
	total foreign national population	1.6	1,714	330
20	Portugal	1.3	213	46
21	Italy	1.2	294	49
22	Switzerland	1.0	6,072	710
23	Austria	0.8	38	5.8
24	France	0.7	95	21
25	Germany	0.6	266	62

On 28 November 2010, 53% of voters approved a new, tougher deportation law. This law, proposed by the Swiss People's Party, called for the automatic expulsion of non-Swiss offenders convicted of a number of crimes, including murder, breaking and entry and even welfare fraud. As the proposal makes deportation mandatory, it denies judges any judicial discretion over deportation. An alternative proposal, that included case by case reviews and integration measures, was rejected by 54% of voters.^[16]

Notes and references

1 2 "Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik (PKS) - Jahresbericht 2014" (PDF) (official federal site) (in German, French, and Italian). Swiss Federal Statistical Office; Konferenz der kantonalen Justiz- und Polizeidirektoren. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
↑ "Corruption Perceptions Index 2014: Results". Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Transparency International. 2014. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
↑ "Kriminalität, Strafvollzug – Daten, Indikatoren; Verurteilungen: Jugendliche und Erwachsene; Verurteilungen 2013 - 2014" (official federal site) (in German and French). Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Statistical Office. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
1 2 "Kriminalität, Strafvollzug – Daten, Indikatoren; Verurteilungen: Jugendliche und Erwachsene; Verurteilte Personen 2014" (official federal site) (in German and French). Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Statistical Office. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
↑ Swiss Federal Statistics Office
↑ Swiss Federal Statistics Office
1 2 3 Kriminalität, Strafvollzug – Daten, Indikatoren: Verurteile Personen: Jugendliche und Erwachsene (German) accessed 5 April 2016
↑ Swiss Federal Statistics Office
↑ Federal Department of Justice and Police study
↑ Swiss Federal Statistics Office - Kriminalität, Strafvollzug – Daten, Indikatoren Verurteile Personen: Jugendliche und Erwachsene accessed 3 August 2016
↑ Neue Statistik: Tamilen sind krimineller als Ex-Jugoslawen, Tages-Anzeiger 12 September 2010.
↑ so Alard du Bois-Reymond, director of the Federal Office for Migration, see e.g. Blick, 12 September 2010.
↑ Blaney, Colin (2014). Undesirables. John Blake. p. 158. ISBN 978-1782198970.
↑ data from Swiss Federal Statistics Office
↑ aged 20–39; data from Swiss Federal Statistics Office
↑ "Swiss approve foreign criminal initiative". Swissinfo. 28 November 2010. Retrieved 29 November 2010.

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