Youth Crime Shock

 

Shocking new figures expose true extent of muggings on teenagers

Young people face grim risk of being mugged for mobiles and MP3 players

 

Councillor Bob Blackman, expressed concern at new figures which have exposed the true extent of youth-on-youth crime. The shocking statistics were obtained by Conservatives under the Freedom of Information Act.

 

·            Across the country, a third of all muggings last year were on 11-16 year olds. They are seen as easy targets by muggers seeking mobile phones and MP3 players. In turn, 11-16 year olds were responsible for 40 per cent of all robberies.

 

·            The Government, despite claiming street crime is a top priority, does not properly monitor the level of youth muggings.

 

·            There were a projected 113,000 robberies on 11 to 16-year-olds last year across England & Wales. This is equivalent to over 600 muggings a day for each of the 195 school days.

 

Bob Blackman remarked,

“These new statistics reveal a worrying area of crime that has gone unrecognised. This is likely to be the tip off the iceberg given how few crimes are actually reported.

 

“Secondary school students and their parents will immediately recognise the picture of life these crime figures paint. Having mobiles and ipods routinely stolen, being marched to the cashpoint, seeing their friends mugged – this is the everyday life for too many of (area’s) teenagers. 

 

“Youth-on-youth crime could be a serious long-term problem and the Government are not properly monitoring it. I believe young people have a right to expect violent crime against them to be taken seriously by this Government.”

/continued…

 

Notes to Editors

 

Statistics were compiled from a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to individual police forces about robberies by Conservative youth spokesman, Justine Greening MP.

 

·            40 per cent of all muggers (offenders detected for ‘personal robberies’) were aged 11-16 in 2005-06 in England and Wales.

 

·            In total, of the police forces which responded and provided comparative figures, 23,698 muggings on 11-16 year olds were recorded by the police last year - equivalent to 122 school children recorded as mugged every school day. 

 

·            The British Crime Survey (based on interviews of people), estimates that only 21% of robberies are actually reported to the police (Home Office, Crime in England and Wales 2005/06, Table 4.01).

 

·            This would suggest that actual muggings on 11-16 yr olds last year could be as high as 113,000 in the areas which responded. This suggests over 600 muggings every school day.

 

Some police authorities refused to provide the information.

 

Police force (2005-06)

Total personal robberies reported

Number of personal robberies reported on 11-16 yrs

Estimated number of actual offences on 11-16 yrs (assuming under-reporting rate of 21%)

Victims aged 11-16 yrs as % of total recorded personal robberies

 

 

 

 

 

Avon and Somerset

1,902

437

2,083

23%

Bedfordshire

1,268

482

2,294

38%

Cambridgeshire

No data

No data

No data

No data

Cheshire

474

114

542

24%

Cleveland

No data

No data

No data

No data

Cumbria

90

19

90

21%

Derbyshire

713

No data

No data

No data

Devon and Cornwall

488

122

581

25%

Dorset

239

55

262

23%

Durham

228

36

174

16%

Dyfed-Powys

No data

No data

No data

No data

Essex

No data

No data

No data

No data

Released by: Bob Blackman

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