Violent attacks by young women on the up

Mar 15 2009 by Phil Doherty, Sunday Sun

VIOLENT attacks by young girls in the region have risen by more than 50 per cent in the last three years, but it is feared the true figure could be far higher.

According to the Youth Justice Board there were 2997 violent crimes committed by girls in the region, including robbery, racially aggravated assaults and violence against a person.

This compares to 1905 three years ago. This is a rise of 57.3pc in violent crimes committed by girls aged between 10 and 17.

The alarming increase is being blamed on the growing ladette culture as girls ape the behaviour of their male peers.

Rob Hornsby, a senior lecturer of criminology at Northumbria University, said: “Figures for female violence have gone up considerably in recent times.

“It’s hard to pin down why this is, but one thing that has changed is leisure time for young women.

“Go back a few decades and you’ll find that girls and boys did not mix in their peer groups.

“But that has changed, and peer groups are now mixed, and girls are now aping the boys’ behaviour.

“To put this into perspective, if you went back to the 1950s males committed 11 offences compared to one for females. But it is now four offences for males compared to one for females.

“That is a significant shift in violent behaviour among females.”

At the same time that young girls are increasingly becoming violent, the criminal behaviour of boys has decreased by 16.8pc.