• - The number of charges is rising much more steeply than the number of people charged, meaning on average each offender is committing more offences
• - The biggest surges in the last year have been for court charges against young people, in particular for theft, burglary and robbery
• - There was a 41% increase in theft charges in court against young people, compared to last year

The number of charges against children and teenagers has spiked in the last year, with theft, robbery and burglary seeing the biggest increases.

But the number of young people charged hasn’t gone up nearly as steeply, meaning young offenders are on average committing more crimes per person.

These trends are revealed in the latest crime data, released today by the Ministry of Justice, which looks at charges that have reached a conclusion in court in the year to June.

There were more than 5000 theft charges against those aged 10 to 17 in the 2023/24 year, a 41% increase compared to the previous year, and roughly twice as many theft charges than in each of the preceding years. But the number of children and young people charged with theft stayed the same: 393 people.

That means each young person faced on average almost 13 theft charges in 2023/24, compared to nine theft charges in 2022/23.

Overall, including the adult population, there was a 31% increase in the number of theft charges last year compared to 2022/23, a continuation of a rise that started in 2021/22; the increase is 67% comparing last year to 2021/22.

But the increase in the number of people charged with theft rose by only 18% this year compared to 2022/23, and by 39% compared to 2021/22.

The latest justice data only captures court charges, meaning it doesn’t include the majority of youth offending, as only serious youth offending ends up in Youth, District or High Court.

A total of 1704 people aged between 10 and 17 faced court charges in 2023/24, the highest number in six years and 27% higher than the number two years ago. The number of charges for this age group compared to two years ago, however, jumped by 71%.

As well as increases in theft, the number of burglary charges roughly doubled over the last two years, while the number of robbery charges jumped by 57% compared to the previous year, and is now the highest number in nearly a decade. This is despite ram raids peaking in August 2022, and dropping 80% in April this year compared to April last year.

The number of young people charged also increased, but not nearly as steeply as the number of charges.

Did violent crime go up under Labour?

The number of court charges for “acts intended to cause injury” has increased by 19% in the past two years, returning to roughly the same level as in each year between 2015/16 and 2020/21.

This is the offence category that Luxon uses to claim there was a 33% increase in violent crime under Labour, though he uses reported victimisations to police, not court charges (roughly the same last year as when Labour took office in 2017) or convictions (lower than in 2016/17).

Almost 50,000 people were convicted of at least one offence in 2023/24, up 4% from the previous year but 16% below the number five years ago.

The number of people charged with violent offences rose by 6% from the previous year, as did the number charged with family offences.

Cross-referencing with other crime data

The data suggests that theft has been rising in recent years, though it may also indicate more reporting to police as well as more police monitoring and enforcement; Operation Haumaru, for example, is a police crackdown launched after a spate of youth aggravated robberies across malls and bus stations in West Auckland.

But the trend correlates with the rise in vehicle theft in the latest NZ Crime and Victims survey. This captures all offences as well as unreported crime and showed a doubling in the proportion of households (from 1.5% to 3%) that experienced vehicle theft last year compared to 2018.

The latest survey data also showed a 33% increase in the number of people who experienced violent crime (defined as assault, robbery and sexual assault) in the year to June 2024, compared to the 2022 calendar year. This means 30,000 more victims when Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is aiming to have 20,000 fewer victims by 2030 as one of his nine public sector targets.

There has also been a 17% increase in retail crime in the first five months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.

This weekend, however, Luxon applauded a 22% reduction in serious assaults in the Auckland CBD in the period from January to July this year compared to the same period last year - based on police data, which only considers reported crime.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the success was partially attributable to a joined-up approach involving police, social sector agencies, local authorities, business groups and others.

He said there still a lot of work to do, but pushing towards 500 more police by the end of next year will help.

Derek Cheng is a senior journalist who started at the Herald in 2004. He has worked several stints in the Press Gallery team and is a former deputy political editor.