Kids and Crime: Overview : SBS Insight

Overview

Are kids becoming more violent at a younger age?

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Violence in children as young as 10 is increasing, with more girls participating than ever before.

Insight looks at the changing face of youth crime by bringing together children who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law with victims, police, criminologists and social workers .

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has reported a spike in numbers of juvenile detainees. Studies have shown that the younger kids are when they first offend, the greater the risk of them ending up in the adult prison system.

Insight talks to parents whose lives have been destroyed by their kids' trouble with the law.

What motivates young people to act violently? And what role do peers and even technology play in an age where kids are committing child abuse? Is parenting at fault?

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Meet the Guests

Sarah

Sarah is 23 years old and married with two young children. She says violence became a way of life after she left home at the age of 14. Sarah talks openly about why girls are increasingly more violent and what helped turn her life around.

Les Twentyman

Few people know the streets of Melbourne like Les Twentyman. Based in the western suburbs, Les has been working with young people at risk for more than 20 years. He is currently working with the 20th Man Fund an organisation dedicated to providing programs and counselling services to the homeless and disadvantaged.

Nicole Carroll

Nicole is a criminal defence lawyer with Samuel Griffith Chambers who specialises in matters relating to children. In her career spanning ten years, she has had extensive experience dealing with serious assault cases, robberies, sex offences and gang related crime. Nicole is a member of the Legal Aid Committee for the NSW Bar Association.

Professor Paul Mazerolle

Professor Paul Mazerolle is Director of the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance and the Violence Research and Prevention Program at Griffith University. Paul has recently analysed police statistics from four states which indicate that young people, particularly those aged 10-14 years, are becoming more violent.

Paul Stanley

Life changed dramatically for Paul Stanley after the death of his 16 year old son outside a teenage party in the Brisbane suburb of Alexandra Hills in September 2006. Since that day, Paul has been working to stop youth violence by spreading the message that ‘one punch can kill’. Paul is a member of the Queensland Government’s Youth Violence Taskforce.