2014 crime rate down, says prosecutor’s report

Budapest (MTI) – The total number of registered crimes in 2014 was down by 12.8 percent from the previous year, the chief prosecutor’s crime report said.

The report reveals that there were 329,303 crimes registered last year, with 447,186 and 472,236 registered in 2010 and 2012, respectively.

A total of 108,389 criminals were registered last year, down slightly from the 109,876 offenders registered in 2013.

The report found that there were 129 murders committed in 2014, which is eight fewer than in 2013.

The report put financial crimes, consisting mainly of theft, at 141,469. Crimes in this category totaled 167,657 in 2013. Fraud cases tallied at 33,370, down from 37,345 offences the year before.

The report showed an increase in corruption cases: no less than 3,268 corruption schemes were registered in 2014, nearly three times as many as in 2013, which saw a total of 1,105 registered cases. Statistics show an upward trend in registered corruption schemes, with 481 cases registered in 2010.

The number of victims of corruption quadrupled between 2013 and 2014, with 398 victims reported in 2013 and a total of 1,684 last year.

The number of drug-related crimes also increased with 6,159 reported incidents in 2014 compared with 5,445 in the previous year.

A total of 83,861 defendants were handed punishments in court, 27 of whom were sentenced to life in prison. A further 29,300 were given shorter prison terms, 65 percent of which were suspended. No less than 22.8 percent of the defendants were sentenced to community service, while 32.6 percent were handed fines.

The crime report revealed that there were 4,430 foreign criminals registered in 2014, while 6,420 crimes were committed against foreign citizens.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters