Victorian youths in hardcore wave of violence

GREG BROWN
April 20, 2017
The Australian

African and Pacific Islander youths were identified yesterday as members of a violent cohort of Victoria’s 200 most hardcore youths who each commit an average of 47 crimes a year.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Stephen Leane told a state inquiry into youth justice centres that teenagers of African and Pacific Islander origin felt “locked out” of mainstream ­society. He said they were part of the angriest cohort of offenders police had seen, who started out with some of the most violent crimes rather than progressing from misdemeanours.

Mr Leane said the group would typically resort to violent crimes, such as aggravated robbery or carjackings, on their first offence.

This was why 80 per cent of inmates in youth justice centres were held on remand, compared with a long-term average of 20 per cent.

“People are feeling locked out, so we have got a bunch of young people in our community who haven’t done enough in school,” Mr Leane said.

“They are from a background that does not feel a part of ­mainstream society, they read online news which is directed ­towards their race and their ­religion, so they feel they are not part of that world.

“You have got young men who are angry and who have the capacity to actually play out their anger … we are seeing a different cohort of new offender arrive on the scene in the Victorian community and that new cohort is different and distinct from the cohort we have had for the all of the time I have been in policing, and that is 35 years.” 

The comments came after a wave of juvenile offending in Victoria that has been linked in many cases to the offspring of immigrants. 

Mr Leane and Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp appeared at an upper house parliamentary inquiry yesterday that is designed to address flaws in Victoria’s youth justice system. It was revealed that police attended nearly 250 events at youth justice centres in Parkville and Malmsbury in 2015-16, and 169 so far this financial year. This has taken the resources of 743 police units. 

At an earlier hearing, representatives from the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service said they knew of one youth inmate who harmed himself 20 times in three months but did not see a psychologist due to a lack of ­resources.

Mr Crisp and Mr Leane were questioned on their claim that the worst offenders were a small group “in their hundreds”.

Opposition children’s spok­es­woman Georgie Crozier said she understood the 200 or so most hardcore offenders committed an average of 47 crimes per person per year, while an ­additional 1685 committed on average 11 offences a year.

“You have actually got more than just a small cohort, would you say, in terms of what I have described?” Ms Crozier asked.

Mr Crisp acknowledged that people were being released from the justice system and reoffending. But he played down the prominence of particular racial groups.

Mr Leane said the number of hardcore youths was growing, although he maintained the total number was small. “They are peer-pressuring and pulling in others to get involved,” Mr Leane said. 

“We arrested people who had done home invasions this week who have never been in trouble with police before with others who have been in trouble before. The speed that group is growing we believe is slow.” 

Mr Leane attributed the rise in carjackings partly to better car security as it was difficult to steal a locked car without keys. He warned that the increased crime rates could force shop owners to increase security and having an impact on the life of the ­average Victorian.

The two deputy commissioners were optimistic that youth control orders would help to rehabilitate troubled youths. They also acknowledged that organised criminals were commissioning youths to commit crime on their behalf.