YOUTH OFFENDERS

Of the young offenders aged 10 to 19 years, both males and females aged 17 years had the highest offender rates. Males aged 17 years offended at a rate four times higher than the rate of all male offenders (12,465 male offenders for every 100,000 males aged 17 years compared to 2,859 male offenders per 100,000 males aged 10 and over). The rate for females aged 17 years was 4,579 for every 100,000 females aged 17 years compared to 768 females per 100,000 females aged 10 and over. This was nearly six times higher than the rate for all female offenders

The offender rate for both males and females decreased noticeably between the ages of 17 and 18 years.

The predominant principal offences for youth offenders were public order offences (22%) followed by acts intended to cause injury (14%) and theft (12%). The impact of age on patterns of offending is further illustrated by the following graph. From the age of 14 there was a noticeable increase in the rate at which public order offences were the predominant principal offence, peaking at the age of 17 years before a large decrease at the age of 18 years. Theft peaked as a principal offence at the age of 15 years, but at a rate below that for the other two offences. By the age of 18 years, acts intended to cause injury had overtaken public order offences in terms of its prevalence as a principal offence.

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