Dateline: New South Wales, Australia
By: Kim Arlington at The Daily Telegraph
From: Daddy Who at DOTA
Via: The Honor Network

Girls Gone Wild

Priority News Exchange Program News Item (PNEP)

THE number of underage girls linked to crime has soared by 58 per cent in the past decade, with new statistics revealing unprecedented numbers of girls suspected of assault, vandalism and shoplifting. Startling new figures from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research show that girls are increasingly coming under police scrutiny in connection with a range of crimes. There were 3622 girls aged 10 to 17 allegedly involved in criminal incidents in 1998 - a figure which rose to 5724 last year. And the past 10 years have seen significant average annual increases in the number of girls suspected of malicious damage to property (8.5 per cent), disorderly conduct (7.6 per cent), shoplifting (5.9 per cent) and assault (5.5 per cent).
It's a trend also evident in the UK, where statistics show offences committed by girls between 10 and 17 have jumped 25 per cent in three years.

For more click: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23682279-5001021,00.html