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Youth crime is rapidly rising, and the punishments just aren’t harsh enough in Victoria. The secondary offenses have skyrocketed for youth crime and it has put a huge strain on the judicial system. Sentences are just not tough enough to stop young offenders from reoffending. Other statistics indicated that young offenders were more prone to reoffending than older offenders, this proves that education such as teaching about the issue needs to improve as well (excursions) and the safety of civilians is at risk with youth offenders roaming around the streets. Ultimately Victoria’s judicial system needs to be harsher on youth offenders to assist in preventing the incidence of crime.
Harsher sentencing for the youth will eventually deter young people away from committing the crime. In the Children’s Court, secondary offenses grew from 2.83 percent of all charges sentenced, or 590 charges in 2011, to 14.34 percent, and almost 3000 charges in 2016. In all courts across Victoria, the number of secondary offenses almost tripled, with 12,244 recorded in 2011-12 and 31,862 by 2016.
Rise of Youth Crime in Victoria
Crime has just continued to rise because the offenders believe that they can commit a crime and they won’t get severely punished for it. One example of a person who didn’t believe he would get punishment for offending was a man named Yak Duc who violently confronted two policewomen and attacked them. He began to boast that he would get away with it because of the color of his skin and his age. This man thought he would get away with his crime, ultimately proving what I am trying to convey that people will commit a crime as they believe they won’t be a punishment. Yak Duc during the attack kicked an officer in the head, face, and shoulder which forced her to have serious surgery on her shoulder. Following this, he then kicked the other officer in the legs. After being under arrest he further said that he would find out who the officers were and shoot them with their guns and he continued to provide threats. He then boasted that no magistrate would put him in jail because he is black and guess what he walked free after only 12 months of punishments with no further acts even after having a criminal history and is continuing to give threats today, so he must have been too far long from the possibility of rehabilitation so why not give him what he deserves?
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The fact of the matter is Yak Duc thought he wouldn’t get penalized, because of the color of his skin and people need to understand that no matter the circumstance or age or race everybody deserves an equal punishment for the same crimes committed. If he committed something that severe and thought, he wouldn’t get punished then why should someone like Yak Duc be let into the streets amongst families. This is one way to deter young people from committing crimes and I strongly believe that harsher sentencing will ultimately scare and deter criminals away from acting upon their crimes.
Youth Crime in Victoria
Getting these criminals off the streets is crucial to the safety of all Victorians. If these people are on the streets and are getting bail it is dangerous for the citizens, as they obviously wouldn’t be afraid of doing it again if the punishments aren’t harsh enough.
Lately, violence such as youth street gangs comprised mainly of teenagers has been the main cause of violence. Recently bystanders were injured as teenage gangs took a violent brawl to the streets of a popular restaurant district, this unfolded about 11 pm when dozens of teenagers ran down the street and began to fight other boys who were sitting at a late-night cafe.
There were no punishments at all and then the night after this same gang planned another brawl in Oakleigh VIC. This did not happen, but they are still planning another attack. This is because there are no punishments, people with their friends and family are not going to be safe if these brawls continue to occur. that a man was taken to hospital with serious injuries and was just a bystander.
Take a moment to imagine that one night you are out for an enjoyable meal with your family in a popular area deemed ‘safe’ when suddenly you are confronted by youth gangs with weaponry, attacking bystanders and putting you at risk. You would not want yourself, nor your family or your children to witness this. These experiences can have extreme long-term mental effects on anyone. As anyone would, you call the police, in hopes that these criminals would be restrained and removed from being able to endanger the community, but no. no penalties arise and are faced with just four blameless words: ‘don’t do it again’. How safe do you find public areas now? where violent people don’t get charged and commit crimes without punishment? Anyone at any time is at risk of encountering these underage, violent criminals, and there is no hiding.
The costs of damaged property and lost businesses for that restraint is huge. Businesses in shopping malls like Oakleigh are scared of losing customers and that will be the result if youth gangs continue to appear in the streets of Victoria, outside popular restaurants. just like the one in Oakleigh and who knows next time it could be your family!!
If there were harsher punishments, then there could be programs and proper learning about consequences to educate people and make them aware of this that will be a useful way to prevent children away from offending.
If schools included programs and some proper training then hopefully, they will get some skills and some help, so they don’t re-offend. There are programs where students visit prisons and its purpose is to provide a ‘’forum where students can further their knowledge of modern correctional issues and the corrections industry and to also bring their classroom learning to life.’’ Those programs believe that hearing about the treatment of serious crimes firsthand from people that have committed them gives them more information than a textbook could ever and will deter students away from committing crimes if they physically learn what the punishments will look like.
They sit down and explain their crimes and what they believe drove them to commit their crimes, their lives in prison, and some life choices to avoid. It is safe and guarded by security and police and they don’t make you see people who have committed overly serious crimes to protect the younger people. Unfortunately, Victoria is one of the only states that doesn’t allow this, and Victoria’s crime rate is growing, and wouldn’t it be better to do whatever we can to stop it from rising.
Victoria desperately needs to put in place education about prisons and punishments and schools should be allowed to visit prisons like many other states whose crime rates are dropping and who knows it could be that their education system is better when talking about crime.
If the punishments were increased for the youth, then schools could teach students early at a young age about these punishments and the specifics about how these people live and the emotional side of families and friends that will deter them away from committing.
Young people are also more prone to offending than older people so these programs and education will help put Victoria’s young on the right track to a good future and prevent them from crime.
Sarah Jacks writes for The Underage, that “It is extremely worthwhile for students to have the opportunity to visit a prison and to take away the message of never wanting to end up there.”
Conclusion
Overall the youth should be treated the same as what an adult is treated. With youth crime rapidly rising the only solution is to increase the punishments to scare criminals away from offending, to keep people safe, and hopefully with these increased punishments programs like police in schools can be put in place to deter students at a young age from crime. Youth crime in Victoria has skyrocketed and it is making our judicial system weak. I strongly believe that Punishments should increase in Victoria to deter the youth from crime. If a student is smart enough to commit an adult crime, then they should definitely be treated like an adult.
