This issue is part of a broader discussion in Portugal regarding immigration and crime, which often sees conflicting narratives between public perception and official statistics.
Here’s a breakdown of what the information available suggests:
Public Perception vs. Statistics: While some media and public discourse in Portugal, including Madeira, link an increase in crime to immigration, some analyses suggest this idea is a “myth.” Studies indicate that in municipalities with a higher number of foreign citizens, the overall number of crimes has decreased or the crime ratio for total residents is lower.
However, it’s acknowledged that the media can contribute to feelings of insecurity by highlighting isolated newsworthy incidents involving immigrants, with more frequent and in-depth coverage.
Crime trends in Portugal are generally low, compared to most other countries and most crimes are non-violent.
In 2023, Portugal saw an 8.2% increase in total recorded crimes compared to 2022. However, these numbers are still lower than those seen in the early 2010s.
Property crimes, particularly theft, account for over half of reported crimes and are often linked to the rise in tourism.Violent and serious crimes (those involving physical or psychological violence) constituted a smaller percentage (3.8%) of all reported crimes in 2023. Robberies make up the majority of violent crimes.
Specific to Madeira, in 2021, there were 3 murders, 1,517 assaults, 107 incidents of theft in public places, and 239 incidents of theft from motor vehicles/carjackings. Pickpocketing, while infrequent, occurs mainly in some areas of Funchal. Data about the nationality of the criminals is not available.
Portugal is noted for drug trafficking, with cocaine being smuggled into the country, though most is then distributed throughout Europe. Brazilian and Russian drug traffickers, along with Portuguese individuals, are involved in usually distributing drugs.
Human trafficking and illegal immigration. Both have shown an alarming increase in investigations related to human trafficking (158% rise) and assistance with illegal immigration (298% increase) in Portugal in 2023. This is linked to labor exploitation and other abuses. Madeira accounts for a small percentage (3.9% of confirmed victims) of human trafficking cases in Portugal.
While studies generally disprove a direct link between overall immigration and increased crime, there is evidence of overstated involvement of non-nationals in justice statistics for certain crimes, such as robbery. This is likely due to policies and practices that lead to increased application of preventive detention and imprisonment upon non-nationals, compared to Portuguese nationals.
While there may be a public perception in Madeira linking increasing crime, including drug trafficking, to immigration, official data and sociological analyses across Portugal suggest inaccurate reporting because of the extra media coverage given to immigrant involvement in crimes.
This subject is in strong polical debate in Portugal at present as the extreme right party Chega, wants to prove that increasing crime is more prevalent in the immigrant community, than amongst Portuguese citizens. It wants this information to reinforce its racist policies to take further action against immigration. The other polical parties do not share these views, but the search for more detailed information on the criminals is generally considered necessary to prove or disprove Chega’s argument.
While some specific types of crime or certain trends may be observed, the broad assertion that immigration directly leads to a significant increase in serious crime is not consistently supported by available statistics. The rise in human trafficking and illegal immigration investigations, however, points to genuine concerns related to exploitation involving foreign criminals.
Healing Madeira 