Young crime victims – one in four children targetted

Nearly one in four children are victims of crime, latest figures reveal.

Nearly one in four children are victims of crime, latest figures reveal.
Statistics from the British Crime Survey showed 24% of youngsters under the age of 16 had suffered theft and violence last year.
But researchers said the figure would not be so high if certain crimes such as fights in the playground and theft of toys were not considered to be a legal matter.
More than two million crimes were logged, but if school incidents were withdrawn then only 404,000 crimes against under 16s would be recorded.
Police minister Nick Herbert said: ”These new figures reinforce our longstanding belief that, to date, crime measures have offered either a partial or confused picture about the level of offending.
”However you look at these statistics, they reveal what people know only too well – that crime affecting young people is a serious problem which must be tackled.
”We need a commonsense approach that recognises young people’s experiences so that we don’t criminalise children by failing to properly distinguish between playground spats and serious crime.
”The public must have full and trusted information if we are to restore confidence in the statistics and drive effective action to tackle crime.”
 

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