Girl crime surges by a quarter

By Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters) - Crime committed by girls has increased by more than a quarter over the past three years, government figures revealed on Thursday.

The Youth Justice Board (YJB), which oversees juvenile offenders in England and Wales, said it has commissioned a study to investigate the reasons.

Commentators ascribed the increase partly to a rise in the total number of girls aged under 17 and partly to the police being more willing to take action against girls accused of crimes such as school fights.

Boys still commit most youth crime but the YJB said offences by males fell two percent over the same period.

The YJB figures came as the government announced that the opinions of children aged under 16 would be for the first time included in its British Crime Survey (BCS).

A separate study also revealed on Thursday that one in eight young people aged 11-16 were victims of "hot pocket theft" of electronic items including MP3 players, iPods and mobile phones.

The government said it wants to highlight the link between street robbery and young people carrying valuable equipment.

In its annual Workload Data research, the YJB reported that since 2006 young females -- some as young as 10 -- committed almost 60,000 crimes including theft, criminal damage, violent attacks, criminal damage and public order crimes.