Crime figures offer only a limited reflection of the reality of criminal behaviour: on the one hand, sentencing norms are affected by changes in society and on the other, criminal statistics are also strongly influenced by manpower resources, prosecution priorities, the efficiency of the police and justice system and the population’s readiness to report crime. It is hard, however, to quantify the influence of these factors.
Police crime reports
In 2019 the following number of offences were recorded in the Police Crime Statistics: 432 754 under the Swiss Criminal Code (SCC), 75 757 under the Narcotics Act (NarcA) and 37 024 under the Foreign Nationals and Integration Act (FNIA). The percentage of homicide cases solved was 94%, but that of property offences was only 24%. With regard to domestic violence, the police recorded 19 669 offences. Half of these offences took place within a current partnership. A breakdown of persons charged with a crime by nationality and residence status shows that 49% of offences under the Criminal Code and 54% of offences under the Narcotics Act were committed by Swiss citizens. Foreigners with permanent residence in Switzerland accounted for 32% and 23% respectively of offenders, foreigners without permanent residence for 20% and 22% in both cases. For offences against the Foreign Nationals and Integration Act, 83% of offenders were non-residents.
Convictions
Whereas in the mid-1980s, slightly more than 45 000 convictions against adults were registered, this number has since then more than doubled and in 2019 was approximately 105 000. Depending on the law under which the conviction was made, the trend varied greatly. Since reaching an all-time high in 2013, a decline of 13% has been recorded for crimes against the Swiss Criminal Code. With regard to the Road Traffic Act (SVG), the ever increasing road traffic checks between 1984 and 2014 led to more cases with convictions. Since 2014, however, the number of convictions has declined by 6%. Since 2015, convictions against the Narcotics Act have shown a downward trend (–23%). The number of convictions for crimes against the Foreign Nationals Act has fallen by 15% since 2013 to 16 500 convictions in 2019.
Convictions of minors
The number of juvenile convictions was 14 773 in 2019, corresponding to an increase of 6% in comparison with the previous year. An increase was seen in the number of convictions for violent offences (+11%), for Trafficking in narcotic substances (+13%) and for violations of the Road Traffic Act (+13%).
Imprisonment
On the reference date (31st January 2019) there were 102 (mostly small) prison establishments with a total of 7 394 detention places in Switzerland. On the same day, 6 943 detention places were occupied by inmates. The total occupancy rate was 94%. 66% of these inmates were serving custodial sentences, 27% were in pre-trial detention, 4% were in detention subject to coercive measures under the Foreign Nationals Act, and the remaining 3% were detained for other reasons.
Recidivism
The reconviction rates of adults convicted in 2015 for crimes and less serious offences, over an observation period of three years (i.e. until 2016) was 17%. The lowest reconviction rate was seen among people with no previous criminal record (13%)
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