LAST Wednesday, June 26 Leongatha Police along with the Bass Coast Highway Patrol with the assistance of Bass Coast Criminal Investigation Unit arrested a fourteen-year-old in Leongatha South.
According to police, the teen was wanted for questioning in relation to a series of burglaries, theft of motor vehicles, dangerous driving and other property related offending.
The young person was charged and presented before an out of sessions court hearing and was bailed to appear at the Korumburra Children’s Court at a later date.
So, is this an indication that youth crime is on the rise locally, and across Victoria?
Yes. Recently released crime statistics show offences by children aged 14-17 rose by 30 per cent in Victoria in 2023. It was the highest rate of offending by that age group since 2009.
In both Bass Coast and South Gippsland, the number of alleged offender incidents by the 10-17 age group is the equal highest across the age groups.
In South Gippsland for the year ending March 2024, there were 107 alleged incidents in the 10-17 age group, and 186 in Bass Coast. It was the same figure as the 18-24 year old group in South Gippsland, and close to the 189 alleged incidents for the 18-24 age group in Bass Coast.
Typically for the other age groups, crime figures were much lower, between 95 in South Gippsland (40-44) and 71 (25-29) and in Bass Coast between 91 (25-29 year old) and 126 (35-39 year olds).
So, the youth crime figures are significant.
By comparison, in the Latrobe LGA, police recorded 706 crimes by 10-17 year olds and 781 by 18-24 year olds easily the highest rates of any age groups.
Across the state, crimes committed by 10 to 13-year-olds rose by 22.5 per cent last year and offences by 10 and 11-year-olds rose by 65 per cent.
There were 3426 alleged child offenders between the ages of 10 to 14 accused of property offences including aggravated burglary – a rise of 16 per cent compared to the previous calendar year.
In the 15 to 17-year-old age group, there was a 44 per cent jump when it came to teenagers accused of property offences - up from 5515 to 7964.
In a recent article by Danny Tran and Tim Callanan for the ABC, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton stopped short of calling it a youth crime wave, but said the increase was concerning.
"Victoria is largely a very safe state but we have got significant issues with child offending," he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
"A lot of it is to do with the notoriety. The 'look at me', trying to make themselves out as being special," he said pointing to social media as a major factor.
Chief Commissioner Patton said he was particularly worried about the number of incidents involving youths breaking in to houses to steal car keys.
He said those crimes were often "about notoriety and social media" rather than financial gain from stolen cars.
"We recovered 94 per cent of those cars very, very quickly so it's just being used for [the thrill].”
Crime up 5.5%
The Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) recently released the Victorian recorded crime statistics for the year ending March 31, 2024.
The rate of recorded offences increased, up 5.5% to 7,687.5 per 100,000 Victorians in the last 12 months, while the number of offences increased 7.9% to 535,673.
While Property and deception offences had the largest increase in the last 12 months, up 14.6% or 38,062 to 299,338 offences they remain below the record peak in offences of 324,062 in 2017. The main driver of the increase was Theft up 26,361 to 181,665 offences with Steal from a motor vehicle the largest contributor up 9,281 to 59,160 offences in the last 12 months.
In the 12 months to 31 March 2024, the number of criminal incidents increased, up 10.1% or 36,431 to 396,238 incidents. The rate also increased, up 7.7% to 5,686.4 per 100,000 Victorians. Despite recent increases in Property and deception offences these numbers are also below pre-COVID numbers.
Alleged offender incidents increased 9.4% to 171,398 in the last 12 months, as did the rate up 6.9% to 2,781.0 per 100,000. Theft offences increased by 48.3% or 7,048 to 33,671 alleged offender incidents. Specifically, Steal from a retail store incidents increased 38.3% or 3,901 to 14,078 alleged offender incidents.
The victimisation rate increased by 7.6% to 3,299.0 reports per 100,000 Victorians. The number of person related victim reports was up 10.0% to 229,878 and organisation reports was up 21.7% to 88,034. Theft offences drove the increase in Person related victim reports (up 17.0% to 97,382 person victim reports).
Family incidents increased by 3.1% in the last 12 months, with 95,982 incidents recorded across Victoria. The rate of family incidents remained stable, up 0.8% or 1,377.4 incidents per 100,000 Victorians.
CSA Chief Statistician Fiona Dowsley said that “there has been a 17% increase in theft offences recorded in the last 12 months, driven by the highest ever numbers of steal from a retail store offences, as well as sizable increases in steal from a motor vehicle and burglary offences”.
“This rapid increase in crimes involving the acquisition of property may be related to cost of living pressures. The increase in property-related crime was largest contributor to the overall increase in crime in the last year. Alleged offenders being recorded for these crimes are drawn from all age groups, especially Steal from a retail store which is above pre-COVID levels” Ms Dowsley said.
In Melbourne, Victoria Police are continuing to target youth gangs, with 381 known members arrested multiple times in 2023. A core group of 244 youth gang members were arrested more than three times last year and 65 gang members were arrested more than 10 times. It's a particular issue driving up youth crime numbers in the city but so far not an issue in regional areas.
Age of responsibility
The Commissioner has also weighed into the debate over raising the age of criminal responsibility.
Chief Commissioner Patton has recently reiterated his objection to the government's plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 by 2027.
The government expects to introduce a bill to parliament this year to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, and possibly 14 in line with international norms.
However, Victoria's Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes has failed to endorse this 14-year-old policy setting recently.
Currently, children as young as 10 can be arrested, charged, held on remand and jailed in juvenile detention. But the government has committed to raising the age to 12 by the end of this year and then to 14 by 2027 to bring the state in line with international norms, evidence about child development and human rights standards.
Chief Commissioner Patton said police "will be able to live" with the age of criminal responsibility being lifted to 12, but was strongly against that being raised any further.
"In an ideal world we'd still be wanting to be able to deal with children and take them before the courts and let the courts deal with them, but governments set the law," he said.
"Twelve and 13-year-olds commit very serious offences and we need to be able to hold them to account for community safety and take them before the courts."
Police expressed their thanks the Leongatha community for their assistance with their investigation during the past week. It is a timely reminder, they said, to keep all vehicles and homes secure.
