A small group of serious youth offenders is driving a surge in the number of Victorian children behind bars, according to the latest figures from the Children’s Court.
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But the overall number of young criminals on the state’s streets has fallen dramatically in recent years with just 2800 children found guilty of criminal offences in the 2016-2017 financial year, down from more than 6000 in 2009-2010.
More than 240 young people were sent to a youth residential centre or youth detention centre in the 12 months to June 2017, a figure that had surged by more than 50 per cent in three years.
In 2009-2010 about 4 per cent of young offenders found guilty were locked up, but by 2017 that proportion had doubled to more than 8 per cent.
The court noted in its annual report, published on Thursday morning, that sending children to detention was a “sentence of last resort”.
“For a small cohort of young people, the serious nature of offending has resulted in an increasing number of orders for detention being made by the Children’s Court,” the report notes.
The court was also worried about the number of young people behind bars in the state as they awaited their day in court, with the numbers of children on remand reaching 79 by May 2017.
However, the report noted there were high hopes for a new fast-tracked remand system to bring those numbers down.
Children and Youth Minister Jenny Mikakos said the youth crime rate was decreasing but serious offences and recidivism among a small group young offenders remained a problem.
Children and Youth Minister Jenny Mikakos said the government was providing more youth detention beds at the Parkville and Malmsbury youth detention centres and a new centre at Cherry Creek, due to open in 2021.
"We’ve introduced tougher new sentencing and bail reforms to respond to a small cohort of young offenders," she said.
"That’s why we’re building more beds in our facilities, including a $288 million high-security youth detention facility in Cherry Creek."
But Shadow Attorney-General John Pesutto was scathing of the Labor government's record on youth justice.
“The Andrews Labor government has botched its handling of youth justice issues," he said.
"With over 30 riots in youth justice facilities over the last two years, more serious types of brazen youth offending and policies that have allowed the most violent young offenders to remain free in our community, is it any wonder so many Victorians don’t trust the Andrews Government to keep our community safe.”
