Crime rates in Victoria are soaring to record highs despite the premier’s overhaul of the bail system.
In the 12 months ending on June 30, 483,583 criminal incidents were reported in the state, according to new data released on Thursday.
This represents an increase of 18.3 per cent compared to the previous year and far exceeds the population growth.
Now criminal incidents per 100,000 Victorians stands at 6,814, which is a 16.3 per cent increase since 2024 and the highest level recorded in more than a decade.
On March 28, Premier Jacinta Allan’s government introduced harsher bail laws making it more difficult for criminals to be released back into the community.
Police Minister Anthony Carbines said the state was yet to see the impact the new laws have had on crime.
However, he claimed the new laws were working despite the growing crime rate.
‘The government has acted, (and there has been) more offenders remanded than ever before since these changes took effect,’ Mr Carbines said in June.
‘We will start to see those people unable to commit further offending. So I think we’ll start to see that change picked up in future quarters.’
Crime is rising across Victoria according to new data released Thursday
On Thursday, Mr Carbines told reporters the bail reforms were having an effect, with a 46 per cent rise in adults losing their bail privileges and a 26 per cent increase for young people.
‘I’m confident that the changes that we are making on Victoria Police advice will see those people who are repeat offenders face more serious consequences, and that will ultimately have an effect on the crime rate,’ Mr Carbines said.
He added more changes were on the way to make the new bail laws even stronger.
The new rules were said to be the ‘toughest in the country’ and made it so people accused of repeat indictable offending were almost certainly refused additional bail.
Victorians themselves have now come out slamming the government and bashing its tough new policies as not doing enough to curb the growing crime wave.
‘It’s okay Jacinta is looking for the best pie in Victoria, once she’s sorted that I’m sure she’ll get onto the crime issue,’ one woman said.
‘Might need a new 13 million dollar (machete) bin for that,’ another wrote.
‘Victoria’s new number plate tag, ‘The Crime State’, don’t worry though, it will just get stolen,’ a third added.
Knife crime in particular is up, as well as many forms of theft and aggravated assault
‘Ahh yes… prompting a “strong police message” will sort them out,’ a fourth joked.
Another person chimed: ‘You mean the gentle parenting technique the legal system seems to have taken into practice isn’t working? Who would have thought?’.
Since the introduction of the new bail laws, there has been a 26 per cent increase in young people who have lost their bail privileges and a 46 per cent rise for adults.
However, even with these positive numbers, the crime rate continues to outpace the increased bail denials.
Meanwhile, the number of alleged offenders was also on the rise.
The only age bracket whose crime had seen an overall decrease was offenders aged between 10 and 17 – recording only a slight drop.
The Allan government has said its new bail laws are the ‘toughest in the country’
Even with this single decline, there remains a disproportionate amount of young offenders who engage in serious and violent crimes.
Victoria Police explained children only accounted for 12.8 per cent of all offenders processed.
However, children were also overrepresented in serious and violent crimes such as robberies at 62.2 per cent, aggravated burglaries at 47.7 per cent and car theft at 26.4 per cent.
‘Victoria Police arrested 1,128 child offenders (10 to 17-year-olds) a combined 7,118 times, with total arrests increasing by 26.7 per cent from the previous year,’ Victoria Police told Sky News.
‘There were 149 less child offenders in the reporting period, indicating that repeat offenders are driving the arrest numbers.’
The City of Melbourne, Port Phillip Yarra, La Trobe and Mildura reported the largest crime increases since 2024.
Respectively, the increases in criminal incidents were 17.4 per cent, 14.9 per cent, 9.4 per cent, 19.1 per cent and 5.5 per cent.
The five largest increases in particular types of crime included theft from a motor vehicle which rose 39.4 per cent to 86,351.
Police Minister Anthony Carbines said the new laws which reduce the amount of times people can be granted bail will be effective in the long run
Motor vehicle theft also rose by 43.1 per cent, family violence order breaches spiked by 16.7 per cent and theft from a retail store increased by 27.6 per cent.
Offences committed with prohibited or controlled weapons saw a major spike of 11.5 per cent in the 12 months to June 30.
During this period, Victoria Police reported seizing 11,000 edged weapons.
