Repeat teen offence rates are through the roof as state battles youth crime wave
RATES of aggravated burglaries by teens have almost tripled in the past year, as Victoria battles a youth crime wave.
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RATES of aggravated burglaries by teens have almost tripled in the past year, as Victoria battles a youth crime wave.
Victoria Police figures show children aged 13 to 18 committed 542 such offences, compared with 187 the year before.
Of these, 32 involved 13-year-olds, and 53 offences involved 14-year-olds.
And those aged from 15 to 17 accounted for 377 cases.
A lawless core of repeat offenders — some of them responsible for dozens of offences — has helped drive up the figures. An aggravated burglary is one committed while the victim is at home.
A trend has emerged of children sneaking in through unlocked doors, as homeowners sleep, to take car keys and use them to steal expensive vehicles.
Rates of car theft committed by teenagers have exploded in the past five years.
Much of this has been linked to young gang members stealing prestige models such as Audis, BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes.
In the last financial year there were 1872 vehicle thefts committed by those aged 13 to 18, compared with 1269 in 2011-12. Of the charges of car theft, sixty-five were laid against 13-year-olds.
Rates for robberies by teenagers have remained close to stable in the past five years.
And rates of burglaries committed when the victim is not at home have declined year on year.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Sue Clifford said that in recent years there had been a decrease in the number of young people committing criminal offences, apart from a small group of recidivists committing serious, violent crimes.
Issac Gatkuoth, 19, an Apex member guilty of numerous offences, could be deported after 14 months in youth detention.
Ms Clifford said the force was carrying out patrols informed by intelligence, cracking down on those wanted on warrants, ensuring that those out on bail were meeting their conditions, and “managing persons of interest”.
“Beyond policing the problem, we committed to working with the community and our partner agencies to tackle the underlying causes of youth offending and to prevent young people from coming into contact with the justice system,” Ms Clifford said.
The Department of Health and Human Services has estimated the damage bill from this year’s rioting at the Parkville Youth Justice Centre has exceeded $1 million. It says last weekend’s chaos alone would have cost “less than $500,000”.
This is on top of an estimated cost of around $750,000 for repairs already completed after a number of other serious incidents this year. Some youth justice sources say replacing so much accommodation and equipment would be much more expensive.
“There’s whole units and plenty of other equipment destroyed. You can’t just go down to Bunnings and replace this kind of stuff,” the source said.