Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent.Credit:Scott McNaughton
Offences against a person – such as an assault – rose 27 per cent for the youngest age group,up from 1705 to 2165 in the same period.
Among teenagers aged 15 to 17,offences against a person increased at a higher rate than property offences. The former increased 18.9 per cent and the latter was up 13.2 per cent.
Dr Marietta Martinovic,a criminology lecturer from RMIT,said the statistics showed at-risk young people needed to be engaged in social,team activities in their local communities.
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“The answer isn’t simply punishment and processing in the criminal justice system,” she said.
“That is absolutely guaranteed to be the worst case scenario because it sets them up on a rollercoaster for years and years in the criminal justice system,which just ends up costing taxpayers millions of dollars down the drain.”
Victoria Police has raisedconcerns about escalating violence between suspected teen street gangs in recent months.
Crime Statistics Agency chief statistician Fiona Dowsley said the majority of offence types increased in the last 12 months,“with notable increases in breach of bail offences and acquisitive crime types such as thefts”.
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