The new Streuspanne episode deals with a hot topic: the police crime statistics – PKS (Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik acronym in German). These are published every year by the Federal Criminal Police Office and often attract a lot of media attention. The data on the origin of the perpetrators in particular is often used for striking headlines.
The focus of the podcast episode: How can we statistically distance ourselves from press statements that are too quick to simply repeat figures out loud and at most mention in passing that these need to be embedded and explained in context in order to avoid creating a distorted picture of society? The podcast team refers to the PKS 2023, which was published in April 2024.
They particularly focus on a figure that has made headlines claiming that the number of foreign suspects has risen sharply – namely by 32 percent since 2019. But what does the data really say?
Our Streuspanne-team Sascha Feth, Jochen Fiedler and Esther Packullat not only explain in more detail how the statistics are collected in the first place, but also discuss questions such as:
Sounds exciting? It's worth listening!
Police crime statistics 2023 https://s.fhg.de/pks-2023 [only available in German]
»Streuspanne« blog post on the number of unreported cases: How can statistics be used to determine the number of unreported coronavirus infections? www.itwm.fraunhofer.de/dark-figure and www.itwm.fraunhofer.de/dark-figure-update
»Streuspanne« podcast episode »Have You Ever Peed in the Bathing Lake« www.itwm.fraunhofer.de/bathing-lake
»SWR Kultur Forum« Podcast Episode: The Fight Against Child Pornography – Is the State Powerless? https://s.fhg.de/swr-podcast [only available in German]
ZEIT article »Crime Statistics: Why There Are More Crimes Committed by Foreigners«: According to police crime statistics, the number of foreign suspects has risen sharply. There is an obvious reason for this, as these data show. https://s.fhg.de/zeit-pks-2023 [only available in German]
ZEIT article »It Is Bizarre How the Figures Are Over-Interpreted«: The police are counting more violent crimes and more foreign suspects. Criminologist Tobias Singelnstein warns that the statistics say little about real crime. https://s.fhg.de/zeit-pks-interview [only available in German]
Have you discovered a numerical phenomenon that you would like us to discuss or have you read a statistic in the media and would like us to discuss it in the »Streuspanne«? Then please get in touch with us.
The podcast is only available in German.
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Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM