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Palma.— The figures were revealed yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) in a report commissioned by Central Government.
An INE spokesman said that the crimes registered with the Government's Central Office had gone up by 3.8 percent in the Balearics within a year, rising from 6'822 in 2010 to 7'086 in 2011.

The majority of perpetrators were men, 88.3 percent of the total, nearly identical to the previous year when 88.4 percent of registered criminals were men; 64.2 percent of those condemned for criminal activity last year, said the INE, were Spanish.

The Balearics not only had the highest number of criminals per head of 1'000 population but also led in the highest number of crimes committed, 7.9 for every 1'000 head of population. Of the total number of registered crimes (8'829), 7'857 were committed by men.

Type of crime
There were 32 homicides recorded in 2011, one more than in 2010. But it was crimes which were related to road safety which accounted for the majority of crimes, 3'523 in total. Of these, 3113 were attributed to men.

Bodily harm in varying degrees constituted 1'303 sentences which were handed down in 2011; whilst there were 507 cases of people being held against their will along with charges of threats (370) and coercion (134).

The Balearic security forces said there were 63 cases of torture last year, 17 incidents of sexual aggression (all committed by men); 42 cases of sexual abuse; 9 of indecent exhibitionism (8 carried out by men and 1 by a woman); and 15 cases of prostitution and corruption of minors.

Robbery
Cases of robbery rose in 2011 by 7.8 percent in comparison with the previous year to reach an officially registered total of 1'819. Of this numbe 363 were categorised as theft and the remaining 856 as burglary or robbery. Cases of fraud rose by 22.4% to reach 207 last year. Crimes against urban bylaws and the environment rose within the year from 25 to 40.

In terms of crimes perpetrated by minors in the Balearics in 2011, the Islands was still the region with the highest number of cases; 16.8 per 1'000 head of population. The youngsters committed a total of 741 crimes, 675 of the culprits were male. The number had risen from a total of 648 crimes by minors in 2010, a rise of 6.4%.

The 14 to 17 year age group were reportedly responsible for 3 homicides in 2011, 53 cases of actual bodily harm, 69 cases of holding people against their will, 34 attempts of torture and to assault another person's moral integrity, 410 robberies, 82 threatening the personal safety of others and 22 for breaking public order bylaws.

Across the country as a whole the crime rate grew by 3 percent in comparison with 2010; 72.7% of those convicted were Spanish, and 9 out of 10 were men.