12-year-old girl among Victoria Police’s worst youth offenders list

A girl of year seven school age can be revealed to be among Victoria’s 20 worst young offenders – with concerns females are increasingly becoming a part of Melbourne’s youth crime chaos.

A 12-year-old girl is among the state’s top-20 young offenders, amid concerns growing numbers of females are part of Melbourne’s youth crime chaos.

Victoria Police statistics from Operation Trinity show the girl was implicated in 10 aggravated burglaries in which a car was stolen over a 12-month period to the end of July.

The recidivist, of year seven school age, has been arrested on 10 separate occasions and is one of two girls in the worst offender rankings.

The other is a 17-year-old who has been involved in 11 aggravated burglaries in which a car was stolen.

There were no females in the same worst-20 list running to the end of February.

Trinity is a seven-day-a-week operation involving 70 officers dedicated to combating the youth crime scourge in Melbourne’s suburbs.

Figures show there are 82 females among 545 “people of interest” Trinity is monitoring, a level of about 15 per cent.

Of those girls, 53 (64 per cent) are aged 17 or under.

Police recover a stolen car as part of Operation Trinity.

They are frequently involved in offending with males also on the POI list.

Police sources say many of the girls who become involved with male-dominated youth offender groups become victims themselves.

There has been a rash of high-level offending involving young girls in Melbourne’s east and south east in recent months.

Two teenage girls are accused of stealing the car involved in last month’s Burwood smash which claimed the life of 28-year-old William Taylor.

Five – aged 13 and 14 – were arrested in July after they allegedly stole a car from a Chelsea home.

They are accused of driving through Bangholme, Mordialloc and Parkdale before the drama ended when police deployed stop sticks near a reserve.

Police sources say many of the girls who become involved with youth-offender groups become victims themselves.

Those arrested were from Seaford, Bonbeach, Cranbourne North, Carrum Downs and Chelsea.

Four teenage girls were this month arrested after they allegedly led police on a wild chase through the south east while driving a car with machetes on board.

The group, and a 12-year-old boy, are accused of driving a stolen Hyundai i30 to Harkaway before fleeing from officers toward a creek.

Officers later recovered machetes in the back of the car, which had been stolen from a gym a day earlier.

Last month, a 17-year-old girl was arrested and released after a high-speed chase in a Mercedes which had been stolen from a Black Rock home days prior.

The girl and a teenage boy accomplice are accused of weaving in and out of traffic before stop sticks were deployed in Seaford.

A 14-year-old girl was in May charged over her role in stealing a Mercedes.

She was a passenger as the Merc allegedly reached speeds of 230km/h through the western suburbs.

Monash University’s social work researcher Susan Baidawi said girls were becoming increasingly involved in crime.

She said the historic ways of dealing with youth offenders largely targeted boys, so those programs were having limited effect on girls.

“There has been a sizeable increase in the number of girls involved,” she said.

“Definitely the data seems to show that trend which often goes under the radar.

“The numbers (for girls) are always heaps smaller, it’s easier to overlook them.

“The rate of crime is going down for boys, but not for girls.”

One police source said there were many males who quit youth crime who can talk to young offenders just out of custody but there’s a shortage of females able to provide the same brand of guidance.

He said this was despite females being more likely to respond to the positive direction.

Originally published as 12-year-old girl among Victoria Police’s worst youth offenders list