Victorians aged between 12 and 17 breach bail every three hours in youth crime crisis

Victorian youths aged between 12 and 17 breached bail close to 2800 times last year — once every three hours — data obtained exclusively by the Herald Sun shows.

A child criminal breaches their bail every three hours in Victoria, prompting concerns that efforts to steer the state’s worst ­young ­offenders away from violent crime are falling short.

Data released exclusively to the Herald Sun has revealed that youths aged 12 to 17 breached bail more than 2770 times last year.

Of 487 “hardcore” individuals, kids aged 12 to 14 breached bail 572 times, while 15 to 17-year-olds ­recorded 2207 breaches.

Those figures comprise the number of times kids either breached a condition of their bail or committed crimes while on bail – two offences the state government abolished in its change to the bail laws in March.

Teens armed with machetes brawled at Woodgrove Shopping Centre in Melton in April. Picture: Supplied

A child criminal allegedly breaches bail every three hours in Victoria

But the change, which means crimes will still be recorded but not how many were committed by those on bail, or how often, has raised fears it will be impossible to measure whether efforts to drive down youth crime are working.

Opposition spokesman Michael O’Brien said remanding children in custody was never ideal, but the data showed the worst young criminals were not receiving adequate education and support while being bailed repeatedly by the courts.

“What we need to do is invest more in programs that work to ­reduce youth crime,” he said.

“There is a real hardcore group of repeat youth offenders who are responsible for a lot of the serious youth crime.

Shadow Attorney-General Michael O’Brien says the state is not dealing with a hard core group of repeat youth offenders. Picture: David Crosling

“But rather than tackling it through crime prevention, the government is trying to just wish it away, and it’s not going to work.”

Meanwhile, the state government will trial the tracking of youth offenders with electronic monitoring bracelets and use the “reverse onus test” on bail – ditching initial plans to give children the presumption of bail announced last year.

This test means those accused of violent offences must prove “exceptional circumstances” and “compelling reasons” to be given bail.

The bail law amendments expanded the considerations courts must take into account when a child applies for bail, including that remand was a “last resort”.

Police can still highlight crimes young offenders commit while on bail as reasons why they should not be bailed again, but they will not face additional charges that clog up legal resources.

Given plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 in 2027, Mr O’Brien said no longer recording bail breaches across the state or documenting all offending by 10 to 13-year-olds would not stop kids committing crimes.

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” Mr O’Brien said. “If an 11-year-old breaks into your house, that doesn’t mean your house hasn’t been broken into, it just means it’s not considered a crime. Pretending that a crime isn’t a crime isn’t going to help these kids and it doesn’t keep the community safe.”

Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes says Victoria has the toughest bail laws in the nation. Picture: David Geraghty

Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said Victoria had the toughest bail laws in the country for serious offenders.

“If a young person abuses their bail conditions or commits further crime they may be charged further,” she said. “It is our expectation that their bail is revoked if they pose a serious risk to community safety.”

A Victoria Police spokesman said police closely monitored the state’s most serious and violent youth offenders.

“As part of Operation Alliance, police are currently monitoring 620 known youth gang members,” he said.

“Operation Trinity is also proactively monitoring hundreds of known home burglars and car thieves, most of them children.”

This year’s state budget allocated $34.8m to programs that deter young criminals from reoffending, but overall crime prevention funding was slashed almost 50 per cent to $12.9m.