Photo: Chmee2, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The imprisonment rate for foreign nationals is 27 per cent higher than British citizens, according to an analysis of data from the government.
A project to create the first “league table of criminality by nationality” conducted by The Telegraph newspaper analysed the number of people in jail by the passport they hold and compared that with 2021 Census data to create a picture of the likelihood of criminality of various ethnic groups in Britain.
The analysis found that there were 18.2 prisoners per 10,000 migrants living in Britain compared to 14 out of 10,000 UK citizens, meaning that foreigners have a 27 per cent higher imprisonment rate. However, the differences become more stark when looking at specific ethnicities.
By far and away, Albanian migrants were the most likely to be imprisoned, with a rate of 232.33 out of 10,000 people, or one in 50. Second on the list was people from Kosovo at 150.23 per 10,000, followed by Vietnamese (148.88), Algerians (124.41), Jamaicans (110.77), Eritreans (110.7), Iraqis (104.43), and Somalis (100.37). The figures mean that such ethnicities are at least seven times more prone to be imprisoned than British citizens.
There are some ethnicities which actually fare better than the native population in terms of avoiding criminality, however, with people from Germany being the least likely to be imrpisoned of any group at just 4.68 per 10,000. This was followed by migrants from Italy (4.96), India (6.24), Greece (6.36), US (7.27), Sri Lanka (8.17), France (8.64), and China (9.39).
The findings have led some to suggest that the government tailor its immigration policies by curtailing inflows from countries with populations which have a higher likelihood of criminality.
Conservative leadership candidate and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: “This analysis confirms what the public will have sensed for a long time: some nationalities are more likely to go on to commit serious crimes than others. It once again points to the need for a far more tightly controlled immigration system, including more rigorous security checks for nationalities linked to criminality in the UK.”
The project conducted by the British newspaper has also led to redoubled demands that the UK government finally begin to release full statistics on migrants and crime.
Leading the charge has been Conservative MP Neil O’Brien, who previously introduced legislation that would have required the government to publish the asylum and visa status as well as nationality of every criminal convicted over the previous year.
“It is shameful that the Government refuses to publish so much of the information which it holds about this subject. It should be available to the public so we can have an informed debate,” he said.
“The Home Office knows the immigration status of prisoners and whether they were here legally or illegally, but it does not publish this. It knows about the offending history of overseas nationals in our prisons and whether they are committing multiple offences but it does not publish this.
“Across the board, the migration debate is hampered by a lack of data which the Government could easily publish but chooses not to on things like the impact on public services and spending. The data the Government is refusing to disclose on criminal justice is a particularly bad example of this.”
A government spokesman said: “This Government is committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.”