Abstract
ABSTRACT The news about sexual assaults and robbery committed by mostly young North African males on New Year’s Eve of 2015/2016 in Cologne and elsewhere went around the world. It triggered a revival of the question of the role religion plays in crime, in particular whether Muslims are more criminal. To answer this question, we investigate ethnic minority and majority youths’ delinquency in Cologne, Mannheim (Germany) and Brussels (Belgium) using unique large-scale datasets. Our results indicate that youths in Cologne are not exceptionally violent. In line with previous research, we find that religiosity is overall accompanied by lower levels of delinquency (vandalism, property offence, drug abuse, bullying), particularly among Muslims. However, in the case of violence, we reveal the opposite pattern. Yet, we discover that these acts are primarily committed by youths who describe themselves as religious without practising the abstinent lifestyle (i.e. abstaining from binge drinking) prescribed by some religions.
Highlights
The events of New Year’s Eve, 2015/2016 in Cologne are still fiercely debated
In additional analyses of the main denomination in the parents’ country of origin in interaction with types of believers, we find that the higher delinquency applies primarily to students who are religious but not abstinent and whose parents originate in Muslim-majority countries (Table 5, Models 1–4)
This paper set out to scrutinise the relationship between delinquency and religiosity among European youths
Summary
The events of New Year’s Eve, 2015/2016 in Cologne are still fiercely debated. About 600 persons were robbed, beaten or sexually harassed, some were even raped. Media reports quickly pointed towards men from North African countries as the main suspects (Polizei Köln 2016; Staatskanzlei 2016) This has unleashed a controversy in the media (e.g. TAZ, Kölner Stadtanzeiger) about the clash of cultures, especially the influence of ethnic and religious backgrounds on crime (Hennen 2016; Klask 2016). As these events have coincided with waves of mostly Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees arriving in Germany, the incident has fuelled a discussion about immigration and its consequences for social cohesion in Germany. In response to the media portrayal of these groups (primarily composed of Muslims), the Council of Muslims (Zentralrat der Muslime) has repeatedly emphasised that Muslims who take their religion serious do not commit these and other crimes (Wirtz 2016; Zeit 2016)
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