New crime data reveals shocking extent of Victoria’s youth crime wave

Crimes involving children aged as young as 10 or 11 years old have spiked in Victoria as an alarming youth crime wave shows no signs of slowing.

Crimes involving children as young as 10 years old have soared to their highest level since 2010 as alarming new figures reveal the state’s growing youth crime wave.

Children aged 14 to 17 years old were “over-represented” in burglaries, assaults, robberies and car thefts while almost 400 youth gang members were arrested within the past 12 months.

Baby-faced offenders aged 10 or 11 years old also recorded a 52.6 per cent spike in the number of offences committed.

More than a third of young criminals aged between 10 and 17 years old are repeat offenders, with the number of recidivist offenders rising by 10.4 per cent.

Children aged 10 to 13 years old were responsible for 84 aggravated burglaries across the state.

Five years ago, they had only been involved in 18.

A Melbourne mother was allegedly hurled from her car by machete-wielding teen thugs in an aggressive carjacking in Melbourne’s west this month. Picture: 7News

Police say that cohort included a “core” group of kids causing the most criminal damage.

Meanwhile, a youth-driven boom in the number of residential aggravated burglaries saw the number of home invasions rise by 18.4 per cent – up to 6031 offences in the past year to March, compared to 5093 reports the previous year.

14-17 year-olds committed home invasions at the highest rate in five years, up 37 per cent over that period.

Police say more than three quarters of alleged youth burglars were repeat offenders.

Acting Deputy Regional Operations Commissioner Brett Curran said a small group of “hardened” young criminals were now committing serious and violent crimes more often.

Nearly 400 youth gang members have been arrested in the past 12 months.

Mr Curran said police arrested seven youth gang members, child thieves and car thieves every day during the past year.

“Crimes committed by children under the age of 18 continue to rise at concerning levels, with this cohort significantly over-represented in serious and violent crimes such as aggravated burglaries, car thefts, high risk driving, and robberies,” he said.

“There are a relatively small group of hardened child offenders causing significant community harm.

“This includes over 160 youth gang members who were arrested three or more times last year and another 38 who were arrested ten or more times as part of Operation Alliance.”

Police Minister Anthony Carbines says the Allan government’s landmark youth justice reforms will help drive down the post-Covid spike in youth crime. Picture: David Crosling

Mr Curran said the force’s internal figures indicated a drop in the amount of car thefts since March this year, but those offenders were now focusing on cigarette burglaries.

Dozens of convenience shops across town have been hit by armed teenagers stealing thousands of dollars worth of smokes.

Mr Curran said the lure of money — not social media fame — was a major factor in the shift.

“We’ve seen a bit of a change with recent Operation Trinity offenders, 80 per cent of those involved in cigarette robberies are under 18, 40 per cent of those we believe are Trinity offenders,” he added.

“These stats go up to the end of March, we’re confident we’re seeing a suppression of that (since).

“So they’ve moved their offending over to that, which is not so much a notoriety offence, (it’s) as a money-making venture.”

Dozens of convenience shops across town have been hit by armed teenagers stealing thousands of dollars worth of smokes. Picture: AAP

Cost of living

Soaring cost of living pressures were largely blamed for a 34 per cent spike in the amount of thefts from retail stores.

Supermarkets recorded a 41 per cent jump in the amount of thefts as Victorians continue to feel the pinch.

Almost half of those offenders were stealing from a store for the first time.

There was also a 10 per cent jump in the amount of petrol thefts.

“First time offenders have been committing shop theft, predominantly to steal food and other essential items and cost of living pressures are driving that,” Mr Curran added.

“People are potentially more desperate to get food, there’s the pressure there, so the way in which they deal with that is to steal.

“That shouldn’t be their resort to go and steal from the shop and commit an offence and potentially put themselves in danger of being put before the court.”

Family violence

Police were forced to respond to a family violence incident every six minutes as the “incredible” figures outlined the dire situation across the state.

Family violence offences rose by 3.1 per cent with nearly 96,000 reports in the past 12 months.

About 50 per cent of those offences were breaches of family violence orders.

Mr Curran said the domestic violence offences were the most concerning of any offence type across the state.

“Tragically in the past five years, 65 women have died and that has been as a result of the actions of men predominantly. Two thirds of those deaths were caused my men,” he added.

“We attend a family violence incident once every six minutes which is incredible when you think about it, and we arrest a family violence perpetrator once every 18 minutes.

“When you consider that a fifth of our offences involve family violence, involve women and children predominantly, being controlled, being assaulted, being murdered … that is always the most concerning thing.

“It has been the major crime theme across this country for a number of years.”

Opposition police spokesman Brad Battin says more police resources are needed. Picture: Aaron Francis

Police Minister Anthony Carbines said the Allan government’s landmark youth justice reforms would help drive down the post-Covid spike in youth crime.

The wide-ranging changes include tracking the most serious young criminals with ankle monitors, police being given powers to caution young offenders to avoid charging them and the appointment of an additional Children’s Court magistrate to help battle the surge in young offenders winding up in court.

When asked if he was frustrated with repeat youth offenders being bailed by the courts, Mr Carbines said: “Victoria Police are finding those who are committing offences in the community and bringing them before the courts”.

“What happens after that is a matter for the courts.”

Mr Carbines said the government had continued to invest in preventing youth crime, but overall crime prevention funding in this year’s State Budget was nearly halved to just $12.9m.

Opposition police spokesman Brad Battin said more police resources were needed to help combat the soaring figures.

He noted an 18.4 per cent increase in the number of aggravated burglaries across the state as a major worry.

“Police numbers are down. The Victorian government hasn’t delivered the extra 502 police they promised, there’s nearly 1000 vacancies,” he said.

“It just makes sense, if you have less police, less police stations, you’ll have more crime.

“(There has been) a 186 per cent increase in aggravated burglaries since Labor came to government. Youth crime continues to be out of control across the whole of Victoria.”

Mr Battin accused the Allan government of trying to “change the topic” by delivering a range of reforms earlier this week.

“To put out a bill this week, that will do nothing when it comes to youth crime across our state, two days before these crime stats come out … the only reason they’re trying to change the topic now is because they know, since 2014, they’ve lost control of crime in this state,” he added.

“Since 2018, there’s been a 25 per cent increase in youth crime across Victoria. In that time, they’ve had a reform into the youth justice system, (where) they sat on their hands and did nothing.”

It comes amid legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 this year.

The Victorian government plans to increase the age to 14 by 2027.