Increase in young female offenders in city

60% of offences committed by girls in Stoke-on-Trent are violent

The number of girls involved with the youth offending service in Stoke-on-Trent has more than doubled over the past three years.

While boys still make up the majority of young offenders in the city, an increasing number of girls have been getting into trouble with the law since the pandemic.

Around 55 out of 240 youngsters referred to the city’s youth offending service in 2023 were female, compared to around 20 out of 170 in 2020.

Violence against a person is the most common type of crime committed by girls, accounting for 60% of offences.

Criminal damage is the second most common at 15%.

This is in stark contrast to offending by boys, with violence only accounting for 14% of offences – a similar proportion to criminal damage, public order, theft and handling stolen goods, and offensive weapon offences.

According to the service’s annual youth justice plan, most of the violent offences by girls are committed against other children.

However, last year saw a number of incidents involving emergency workers being attacked.

Extra training

The youth offending service is currently piloting a girls' group, designed with offenders themselves, while staff have also received extra training for working with young females.

Joy Molloy, head of the youth offending service, told a council scrutiny committee that the increase in female offending could be due to victims being more likely to report incidents.

She said: "Since Covid, we have seen female children starting to catch up with male children.

"Schools are similarly saying that they have been having more problems with their female cohort.

"Is it [the] case of it being more likely that violence is reported if a female is the cause? That is my working hypothesis at the moment."

The number of children in Stoke-on-Trent entering the youth justice system for the first time fell from 81 to 72 in 2023, but the city’s first-time entrant rate of 270 per 100,000 still remains high compared to the national average.

According to the youth justice plan, there will be "renewed focus" on further reducing the number this year.

The plan stated that this would involve reducing the number of youth cautions and youth conditional cautions ‘where appropriate’, and ensuring that children at risk of becoming a first-time entrant are referred to the prevention service.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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