Shannon Deery: Victoria’s youth crime crisis is worsening political millstone for Jacinta Allan

Victoria’s worsening youth crime crisis is a political millstone for Jacinta Allan — despite spending millions of taxpayer dollars the problem just keeps getting worse.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan is struggling to get a grip on the youth crime crisis. Picture: Diego Fedele

A key function of government is to keep its citizens safe.

So Victoria’s worsening youth crime crisis is like a millstone hanging around the Allan government’s neck.

It exposes a critical failure of the government despite major investments and a raft of policies to address the issue.

A spate of high profile youth crimes in recent months has thrust the issue firmly into public focus.

At the highest levels of government sources say there is growing frustration about the way in which our courts are dealing with the crisis.

Time and again youths hauled back before the courts by police are promptly bailed, free again to run amok.

Youth crime in Victoria is at a near decade high. Picture: Supplied

One of the state’s worst child offenders has been slapped with almost 400 charges.

Justice sources say the doli incapax rule — that dictates the presumption that a child aged 10 to 14 is incapable of criminal intent — is also being overwhelmingly used by kiddie criminals to escape punishment.

It can be rebutted only if the prosecution can prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the accused knew their actions were seriously morally wrong.

It means that while our kids as young as 10 can currently be charged with crimes, they are successfully talking their way out of consequences.

If the Allan government pushes ahead with its plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility, no child under 12 would be able to be charged or held to account.

The government had planned to raise the age to 14, but increasingly sources say that is becoming less likely amid an acknowledgment that the youth crime crisis must be tackled head on before such a major reform could be implemented.

Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes. Picture: Diego Fedele

The latest data from the Crime Statistics Agency showed youth crime reaching a nine-year high.

Burglaries and assaults loom large among the 20,401 offences committed by those in the 10-17 age group from June 2022 to June 2023.

The figures included a 30 per cent increase in the number of crimes against the person committed by 14 to 17-year-olds.

The government has invested some $40m in recent years in youth crime prevention programs.

An evaluation by Swinburne University found they had contributed to a 9 per cent reduction in offending.

The range from community-led initiatives to help young people address the causes of offending through to individual case management.

The government has also wound back proposed changes to child bail laws, plans to trial electronic monitoring devices for kids as young as 14 on bail for serious crimes.

But it knows it can’t legislate its way out of the problem.

It needs a co-operative approach between government, police and the judiciary.

Legislation to raise the age was due to be introduced to parliament by the middle of the year.

But such a move could prove problematic for a government failing to get the crisis under control.