The delinquency of so-called foreign “youth-adults” in Spain.

Cause for concern or media alarmism?

Abstract

Spain has been confronted with the phenomenon of immigration since the late 1990s, at which time the percentage of foreign citizens increased considerably year after year, especially those from Latin American and countries of the African continent. At the moment, there is already in Spain a consolidated second generation of population of immigrant origin; and in many cases, the sons and daughters of this contingent who arrived in Spain at the end of the 20th century already have Spanish citizenship, having been born in Spanish territory.
Under the background of immigration, there is a perception within the Spanish population that crime in general, and more specifically that committed by young people between the ages of 18 and 25, is marked above all by those crimes committed by young people, either of foreign nationality, or of foreign origin (second generations). In many cases, it is the media that has been feeding this perception.
Therefore, the aim of this work is to analyze the evolution, incidence and characteristics of delinquency committed by young people between 18 and 25 years of foreign nationality or foreign origin based on the study of official statistics. The starting hypothesis is that the aforementioned perception of Spanish citizenship is not corroborated from the statistical analysis.
Finally, and to contextualize this study from a European perspective, the statistical data available for France and Germany are also analyzed, with respect to this specific age group of foreign nationality or origin. These are two countries that, for decades, have also been confronted with the phenomenon of immigration.