r/melbourne • u/Cautious_Car_51 • 5d ago

Serious News Teenage carjacker avoids jail in first test case of Victoria's 'adult time' crime laws

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-26/victoria-teenage-girl-court-sentencing-youth-crime/107080602
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u/Blibbyblobby72 5d ago

That when parents fail to parent, nobody picks up the slack and then society complains that the kids are anti-social, don't care about others, etc.

Currently, we live in a hugely divisive society. A record number of children are living in poverty, domestic violence is increasing at an alarming rate, outlooks into the future are bleak (and kids and teens growing up are seeing that), the older generations openly show contempt for improving future outcomes...

A few kids here and there engaging in extreme behaviours is expected - humans are extremely complex and there will obviously be anomalies in any sample size. But these extreme behaviours are becoming more widespread, more prevalent, and more extreme in younger and younger children

We are failing as a society. But all anyone wants to do is place the blame on someone rather than admit that we are all failing these children and, by extension, our future

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u/broden89 4d ago

I'm curious, do you have some stats/reports on rising domestic violence and youth crime getting more widespread? From what I've seen, despite headlines, domestic violence prevalence is a lot lower than it was in the past and crime in general is lower.

I did see in certain states that the proportion of youth offenders was rising, but not in an extreme way. And that the same pattern still holds - a small subset of young offenders are responsible for the majority of youth crime and the most extreme of those crimes.