New data has revealed on average 70 serious crimes are committed each day by Victorians who are out on bail.
Reportedly, the data shows children aged 12 to 14-year-olds are the worst offenders.
Following that is the 15 to 17-year-old age group.
New data obtained by The Herald Sun reveals that alleged offenders out on bail over the past year have racked up more than 26,550 jailable offences.
These are known as indictable offences and they include crimes which have a minimum two-year jail sentence.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has declared the state has “very low crime rates” amid new data revealing the number of indictable offences committed by those on bail.
The Herald Sun revealed on Tuesday there were 26,557 charges laid against offenders who were released from custody by either police or the courts in the last 12 months.
The figures from the Crime Statistics Agency amounted to an average of about 72 indictable offences being committed each day.
Those aged 10 to 14 accounted for the worst offender rate, while 80 people in that age range were hit with a combined 610 counts of committing an indictable offence on bail.
Ms Allan was later asked at a press conference whether she was concerned about the number of crimes Victorians out on bail were being charged with.
“In terms of the statistics… when you factor in population growth, Victoria has, by interstate comparisons, very low crime rates, and indeed lower than NSW,” she said.
“And so in that context, there has been some changes that have been made to bail through the Victorian parliament that had the support across the Victorian parliament.
“In terms of ensuring that where the balance had not been right, putting the balance right back into a system that did not see more vulnerable people impacted by the bail system whilst as you’d expect protecting community safety by not granting bail to those who shouldn’t be out.”
The-then Andrews government in August introduced to parliament amendments to the Bail Act 1977 as part of its bid to “reduce unnecessary remand for people accused of low-level offending”.
The government wanted the bail laws to be “fairer for vulnerable and disadvantaged people, while continuing to take a tough approach to those who pose a serious risk”.
Ms Allan said “the changes to bail that have gone through the Victorian parliament still means that if a person breaches bail, that bail can be revoked”.
She added that Victoria Police have been provided with “significant resources and tools” in addition to the “legislative arrangements in place to support community safety”.
Ms Allan’s comments come less than two months after Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said it was “irresponsible” to suggest there is a youth crime crisis in Victoria.
“I don’t want to sound that I’m not understanding of the impact of crime on victims,” My Symes said.
“But when it comes to youth crime, we have a very small number of young people committing serious offences, and even smaller numbers of young people committing offences for the first time.”
(Sky News)
