Victoria has seen a significant rise in overall crime rates, with youth crime at the highest levels ever recorded electronically and criminal offences up 17.9%, new official figures show.
Data released this week by the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) for the year to March 31, 2025, shows a dramatic increase in a range of crimes, with several offences now at record highs, chief among them incidents related to knives and edged weapons.
But despite community concerns about violence caused by African, Middle Eastern, Asian, Pacific Islander and other ethnic gangs warring on the streets of Melbourne, statistics on offender nationality have not been released by the CSA or Victoria Police since 2018.
Victoria Police confirmed in response to the data that child crime (10 to 17-year-olds) “remains at the highest levels since electronic records commenced in 1993”, with 25,275 incidents recorded, or an increase of 17.9% on the previous figures.
Children make up only 13.1% of all offenders processed in Victoria yet they now account for 63% of the state’s robberies, 46% of its aggravated burglaries, and 26% of its car theft.
Offences involving knives and other prohibited and controlled weapons, including knuckle dusters, batons and tasers, remain “an ongoing area of focus”, Victoria Police said.
They announced they are easily “on track to remove a record number of illegal blades, machetes, and zombie knives from the community this year”, with an average of 44 of these weapons taken off Victoria’s streets daily.
Police further noted that they had “seized over 7,500 edged weapons this year” and remain “on pace to surpass the previous record of 14,805” from last year. Knife seizures in the state alone have grown by 31% over the last decade.
Victoria is also experiencing a dramatic rise in retail theft and property crime. The data reveals that retail theft is at an all-time high, with a total of over 41,270 offences recorded – or an increase of almost 39% on previous figures
Chief CSA Statistician Fiona Dowsley noted that “many of these offences [are] linked to repeat offending”, while Victoria Police added that much of the theft is orchestrated by “organised groups of shop stealers” who are “working together to steal goods and on-sell them for a profit”.
A large proportion of this crime involves food products that are snatched from the supermarket and sold on the streets, 7 News reported, and Victoria Police also noted that “alcohol theft has never been higher”.
Incidents in Victoria involving motor vehicles have also grown dramatically. Theft from motor vehicle rose 39% and remains the “most common and fastest growing crime” in the state, while motor vehicle theft grew by 47.1% to its highest level since 2002.
There has also been a related upturn in the number of stolen vehicles involved in collisions, with this figure growing by 73% over the year to a total of 763 collisions. Six of these involved fatalities.
Victoria Police spokesman David Clayton said that police were aware that Victorians have “strong concerns around young offenders breaking into homes to steal cars, which are then driven at high speeds on our roads”.
This, he added, has led “to catastrophic consequences in the past year, with stolen cars involved in more than 760 crashes and six people losing their lives”.
The data further revealed that aggravated residential burglaries are at record highs, rising over 30% to a total of 7,878 incidents.
Family violence order breaches also grew as the state saw an unprecedented total of 106,247 family violence incidents over the year – a jump of over 10% on the previous figures
In total, criminal offences in Victoria increased by 17.1% over the year to 31 March, reaching a total of 627,268 offences, and when population growth is taken into account the crime rate rose 15.2% year-on-year to 8,838.7 offences per 100,000 people.
Criminal incidents, meanwhile, increased 20.1% to 474,937, marking “their highest recorded figures since the commencement of CSA reporting in 2004-05”.
Victoria Police also saw a record number of arrests for the third consecutive quarter, and “the most arrests since electronic records began in 1993 and most likely, in Victoria Police’s 172-year history”.
Arrests in Victoria have increased 23% over the last decade, with the state’s police now making an average of 208 arrests a day.
Victoria Police spokesman Clayton said: “There is no doubt overall crime is higher than both the community and police would like.”
Header image: Left, a group of Afghan teens allegedly bash a lifeguard in Melbourne. Right, a teenager arrested over a machete incident at Northland Shopping Centre.
The post Victoria suffers 17.9% surge in criminal offences as youth crime hits record high first appeared on The Noticer.
The Noticer
