"In 2023, a 15- and a 17-year-old plotted to attack a Christmas market in Leverkusen (North Rhine-Westphalia). In online chats, the two supporters of the "Islamic State" (IS), considered a terrorist organization by German domestic intelligence, plotted to kill as many people as possible by driving a truck into the crowd of revellers. Two days before the planned attack, the teenagers were arrested after police had become aware of their online chats. The minors were sentenced to four years in prison in 2024."
"The Federal Criminal Police (BKA) has for years been recording an increase in violent crime . The number of juvenile suspects under the age of 18 has increased by almost a third since 2019, and the number of suspects under the age of 14 has even risen by two-thirds in the same period. In its latest Police Crime Statistics (PKS) report, the BKA notes some possible reasons for this development: "There are indications that psychological stress among children and adolescents has been increasing for several years."
Two teenage supporters of the Islamic State planned a truck attack on a Leverkusen Christmas market in 2023, were arrested two days before the planned attack, and received four-year prison sentences in 2024. The Federal Criminal Police (BKA) reports a sustained increase in violent crime among minors, with suspects under 18 up nearly a third since 2019 and those under 14 up two-thirds. The BKA links growing psychological stress among children and adolescents, combined with family violence, lack of parental affection, poverty, and anxieties from war, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic, to higher risks of violent offending. The BKA also highlights that young immigrants who fled their home countries can be particularly vulnerable to online radicalization on platforms such as TikTok and Telegram.
Read at www.dw.com
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