Young people commit a high proportion of criminal offences. While some incidents are not serious incidents (and may not have been reported to the police), they are against the law.
The Offending Crime & Justice Survey asked young people aged 10 to 25 about 20 types of offence. If they had committed any of these types, they were asked more details about the most recent occasion. For example, they were asked if they were alone when they committed the offence and whether they were drunk or on drugs at the time. The survey found that:
Half the respondents admitting offences
Half the people aged 10-25 (49%) who took part in the four waves of the survey committed offences. Annual estimates of those admitting committing offences in the previous 12 months varied from 21% to 23%.
Assaults then drug crime are most prevalent
Assaults accounted for half the offences (48%) over four years. Drug crime (selling drugs) was the second most common offence, at one-fifth of all incidents admitted by respondents. Burglary and robbery each accounted for just one per cent of the offences.
Three significant factors are related to offending
The analysis identified the following as significantly associated with offending:
• Both parents no longer living in the same household.
• Poor maintenance of discipline at school.
• Friends or siblings in trouble with the police.
Crime is commonplace among 16-17-year old men
Three-quarters (74%) of men aged 16 or 17 had committed one or more offences in the previous 12 months. Even among those aged ten or eleven, 60 per cent had committed an offence (in the analysis, very minor incidents such as pushing and shoving in the dinner queue at school, were excluded). From age 20 and over, fewer than half the young men had committed offences.
Among young women, crime is commonplace among 11-15-year olds
Among young women, half of those aged eleven to fifteen had committed one of more offences. The prevalence dropped to around one in three at age 20 and over.