Youth crime in Victoria spikes to highest rate in decades

New data from the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) revealed that the overall number of criminal acts has also climbed to the highest rate since 2016.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Bob Hill described the rising crime rate as “totally unacceptable”.

Crime committed by people aged 10-17 has risen to its highest level since electronic records began in 1993.

Police believe repeat child offending was a key factor in the overall increase in crime, up 16 per cent.

“We completely understand the community concerns around young offenders breaking into homes, stealing cars, and putting other people at risk on our roads,” Hill said.

“Be assured that police are arresting the state’s worst young offenders again and again – youth gang members, child car thieves and underage burglars were arrested 3400 times last year as part of Operation Alliance and Operation Trinity.

“As a society, we simply cannot tolerate this level of offending. The time has come for Victorians to feel safe in their homes again and for young offenders to be held accountable.”

The deputy commissioner said police had worked closely with the government surrounding changes to the bail laws, and welcomed the latest announcement.

Hill said there was a critical need to strengthen bail laws.

“We have every confidence that the changes will lead to a reduction in youth offending and crimes such as aggravated burglaries,” he said.

Aggravated burglaries also hit record levels, with police revealing a “hardcore group” of youth offenders aged 14-17 responsible for the sharp rise.

Police anticipate the new bail laws would see a drop in the number of homes being broken into.

The overall crime rate also spiked by 13.2 per cent from last year, reaching the highest rate since 2016.

Police managed to arrest about 201 people a day, meaning 26,519 people were arrested a combined total of 73,539 times.

The highest recorded crimes included theft from motor vehicles, which police described as the most “common and fastest” growing crime.

More than a third of offences were related to number plate theft, and the number of car thefts jumped 41 per cent.

Family violence incidents also surged, with 8482 offenders arrested 15,487 times.

“While youth crime is playing out on our streets and in our newspapers, the scourge of family violence carried out behind closed doors has hit record levels that see police responding to an incident every five minutes,” Hill said.

“Highly difficult economic times are also having a significant impact on crime, with financial pressures a common cause for family violence, while more people are resorting to stealing from shops to feed and clothe themselves and their family.”