Taking a hard line with Ballarat’s young crooks might not be the answer to deterring them from committing further crimes, the results of a new Victorian study suggests.
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A comparison of youth offenders who were either charged or cautioned for their offences found the latter were less likely to re-offend when it comes to theft, property damage and assault.
Within Ballarat City Council's area, police cautioned 84 alleged youth offenders and charged 71 in the 12 months to March, 2016, according to new Crime Statistics Agency data.
In other words, 54 per cent of alleged youth offenders were cautioned and 46 per cent were charged.
More than a third of cautioned youths re-offended within 12 months of their first recorded offence, compared to almost half of those who were charged, numbers from the Crime Statistics Agency, released on Monday, showed.
Thefts, property damage and assaults were the most common offences committed by young people across Victoria.
“Our research found young people who received a caution were slower to re-offend and were recorded for fewer offences than young people who received a charge,” study author Kimberley Shirley said.
“These results provide further evidence to support the use of cautions for responding to youth reoffending in Victoria.
“After twelve months half the young people who were charged by police were recorded for five or more further offences, while only one-third of those who were cautioned reoffended with the same intensity.”
Young people who were cautioned by police re-offended at half the rate of charged people and at a slower rate, the author reported.
The study of 5981 young people found 35.9 per cent of cautioned youths re-offended, compared to 47.8 per cent of those who were charged.
It comes after the scourge of aggravated burglaries and vehicles thefts has come increasingly under the spotlight in Ballarat over recent months.
On August 30, Ballarat police investigated at least four car fires linked to burglaries in the one day.
Officers have previously said the city has a group of repeat offenders.
“We’ve got recidivist offenders and, as a community, we know what they’re looking for: keys and cars,” Leading Senior Constable Janine Walker said.
