Burglaries, thefts, youth crime: Eight charts that show how bad crime has become in Victoria

The latest crime data shows police are grappling with record youth offending, home invasions and car thefts. We’ve broken down the data into eight graphs to expose how crime has soared over the past decade.

Victoria Police has made a record number of arrests as it battles a massive surge in crime across the state, new data has revealed.

We’ve broken down the thousands of data entries provided by the Crime Statistics Agency into eight charts, each revealing the shock rise in offending this decade.

These charts refer to reports dating to March 2025 — before Victoria’s bail laws were introduced.

The total number of criminal offences in Victoria increased a massive 17.1 per cent in the past year.

The number of criminal offences jumped from 535,576 to 627,268 in the year to March — the steepest increase in crime seen in the past decade.

The Crime Statistics Agency also released numbers on the rate of criminal incidents to ensure its data is not skewed by population growth.

This shows the rate of criminal incidents per 100,000 people increased 15.2 per cent year-on-year — the highest figure in the past decade.

Youth crime has hit a new record high.

A total 25,275 criminal incidents were linked to children aged 10 to 17 in the year to March. Three in every five robberies and nearly one in two aggravated burglaries were carried out by children.

The data also revealed most young criminals were aged between 15 and 17.

However, the number of younger offenders aged 10 to 14 has been steadily on the rise since the pandemic.

Car thefts have soared to the highest level since 2002.

Victoria Police said criminals did not steal car keys in one-in-five motor vehicle thefts.

This is because offenders are increasingly using third-party technology to override push-start cars and program their own keys.

A huge 763 stolen cars were involved in crashes in the past year — a 73 per cent increase on the year prior.

Six people died in accidents involving stolen cars, with police attributing the “catastrophic consequences” to a rise in youth offending.

Victoria Police attributed a surge in retail thefts to the “bite” of cost-of-living pressures.

Theft from retail stores increased by a huge 38.6 per cent — or by more than 41,000 offences — year-on-year.

Number of thefts almost doubled in the last decade.

But police noted that some large retailers have recently strengthened their reporting measures — meaning this year’s figures more accurately reflect the high level of retail theft than statistics from years prior.

Number of residential aggravated burglaries also hit a historic high in the past year.

There were 7,878 aggravated burglaries in the year to March, more than double the 3,217 reported 10 years ago.

“Victoria Police committed 140,000 policing hours targeting burglars and car thieves as part of Operation Trinity last year, with the operation still ongoing from dawn to dusk every night across Melbourne,” Victoria Police said in a statement.

The state also saw a rise in number of prohibited and controlled weapons offences.

This includes use of knives, batons, knuckle dusters and tasers.

Victoria Police has committed to continuing its crackdown on knife crime following the state’s machete ban.

Officers are seizing 44 illegal blades, machetes and zombie knives from Victorian streets every single day — on track to surpass last year’s record knife seizure.

In a statement, acting deputy commissioner of regional operations David Clayton said: “There is no doubt overall crime is higher than both the community and police would like.”

“That’s why every police officer is working tirelessly to reduce crime and hold criminals accountable – as they did in these twelve months with a record 75,968 arrests,” he said.

Read more about the latest statistics here.

Originally published as Burglaries, thefts, youth crime: Eight charts that show how bad crime has become in Victoria