The rise in TEEN CRIME

Are violent criminals getting younger? Woman investigates and takes a look at some of the most shocking crimes of the past few years

- LOUISE BATY

Parenting teenagers isn’t easy - the moods, the attitude, the antisocial behaviour. When they finally do skulk out of their bedrooms, you may wave them off without a second thought, but do you really know what they’re up to when you’re not around? Let’s face it, we’ve all been their age, doing things we wouldn’t want our parents to find out about. But recently there seems to have been a rise in violent crimes involving youngsters. Just last month, two teenagers were convicted of attacking and killing Bhim Kohli, 80, in Leicestershire, when they were 12 and 14.

Authorities have predicted a ‘tidal wave in youth crime’, with research finding that children who are persistently absent from school are three times more likely to commit an offence than pupils fully attending school.

In 2022-2023, the number of first-time child and youth offenders increased for the first time in 10 years, with 13,743 children and young people cautioned or sentenced in England and Wales. And 34% of offences committed by children and young people are violent crimes. According to criminology expert Dr Simon Harding, who says violence in young people is worsening, ‘Even something that might have been settled with fisticuffs or antisocial behaviour can suddenly dramatically turn into something much more serious and extreme.’

One victim, Nicholas Gibson, was left with a bleed on the brain after being assaulted by a ‘feral’ teenage gang in Wrexham. During the trial in February 2025, the judge asked, ‘What on earth do their parents think they are up to?’