LEAP IN VIOLENT JUVENILE CRIME

Violent juvenile crime has risen sharply in recent years, fuelled by
heroin use, poor parenting, and school truancy in poor neighborhoods,
according to leading criminologists.

And it has reached epidemic levels in some low-income suburbs across
Australia, they say.

They warn that violent juvenile crimes of robbery and theft will
continue to climb unless governments put more effort into helping
vulnerable parents cope with their children.

An investigation by The Age has revealed that violent crime by those
aged under 17 has risen markedly in Victoria, according to the latest
figures. Police and the senior magistrate of the Children's Court
believe the rise in robbery is linked to heroin addiction.

The number of children charged with robbery leapt by 54per cent
between 1995 and 1998, according to the latest Victoria Police statistics.

Other emerging trends include:

A 65per cent increase in children charged with drug trafficking and
manufacturing over the same period.

A widespread problem of school truancy in poor areas.

Prime time for most serious juvenile offending is between 2pm and 6pm
on weekdays.

The growth in violent juvenile crime is not limited to Victoria. In
Sydney's worst areas for crime, one in five juveniles has been brought
before a Children's Court over the past five years.

In the worst areas for child neglect, one in 10 children has been
reported to government welfare authorities because of parental neglect.

The author of the New South Wales study, Dr Don Weatherburn, said the
results were not unique to Sydney's poorest neighborhoods. ``There is
an epidemic level of child neglect and crime in clusters of suburbs
... across Australia,'' he said.

His study found that poor parenting was the most important factor in
turning children towards crime. It was more common in poverty-stricken
areas where a mixture of factors such as sole parenthood, social
isolation, disability and truancy had led to alarmingly high levels of
juvenile delinquency.

``What we are witnessing is the gradual emergence of ghettos,'' Dr
Weatherburn, the director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and
Research, said. ``Juvenile delinquency is increasingly concentrated in
certain neighborhoods.''

The widespread availability of cheap heroin acted as an accelerant,
worsening family dysfunction and criminal activity. ``Kids take up
heroin partly because of poor parenting and partly because of peer
influence,'' Dr Weatherburn said.

The senior magistrate of Victoria's Children's Court, Ms Jennifer
Coate, said she was worried about the surge in heroin-related offences
among juveniles.

Burglary offences by children rose 19 per cent from 1995 to 1996,
according to the latest available Children's Court figures on proven
crimes. Drug offences, mainly heroin trafficking, leapt 31per cent.

``There's been a noticeable increase in the number of young people
coming before the court for drug trafficking and deception offences
such as theft and burglary to obtain drugs,'' Ms Coate said.

``Also, in the protective division of the court, we see young people
who are seriously in the grip of heroin who have not as yet come to
the attention of the police. It would seem they are still being
managed inside the child protection system. Families and the
Department of Human Services are struggling to deal with these children.''

Ms Coate rejected claims that juvenile crime was at epidemic levels.
The court dealt with 2per cent of Victoria's population of under
17-year-olds. Those brought before the court were responsible for
20per cent of all the state's proven crimes.

Ms Coate said she was deeply concerned about the numbers of repeat
juvenile offenders, as young as 13, who were not attending school and
committing serious crimes. They were often state wards, living in
government-funded accommodation.

``Enough children are in this state for me to be concerned,'' she
said.