Berlin, Jan 2 (DPA) Germany is considering tougher juvenile crime laws following a brutal attack by two immigrant youths in Munich, government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said in Berlin Wednesday.
“There is without any doubt a problem with highly aggressive repeat offenders,” he told reporters.
The third attack in two weeks by youths on passengers in the Munich underground train system has catapulted juvenile delinquency to the top of government agenda, with politicians calling for boot camps for the offenders.
The proposed solutions, “which are absolutely within the constitution,” would be carefully studied by the federal government, said Wilhelm, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman. “As far as the chancellor is concerned, this debate is necessary,” he said.
The issues would include stricter juvenile crime laws and more systematic application of penalties by judges, he said.
The Munich police are holding a 17-year-old Greek national and a 20-year-old Turkish national on attempted murder charges for bashing a male pensioner who had asked them to obey a ban on smoking in underground stations.
The police are also holding three youths who bashed two adults in a Munich station last week and are looking for two youths accused of beating up two passengers who had asked them to turn down loud MP3 players inside a suburban train.
Although only the first case involved minority suspects, a perception of widespread violence by youths, many of them born in Germany but descended from “Gastarbeiter” or guest worker migrants, has triggered a debate about ethnic crime.
Guest workers refer to people who moved to Germany during the 1960s and the 1970s as part of a formal guest worker programme.
Roland Koch, premier of the state of Hesse, said last week there were “too many criminal foreigners” in Germany.