Abstract
The rates of appearance by boys and girls on several categories of charges before the Children's Courts in New South Wales, the most populous state in the Australian Federation, was calculated between the years 1991/2 to 1996/7, inclusive. The results show that the rate of assaults including serious assaults, robbery and extortion and drug offences allegedly committed by young people, rose during this period. The rate of increase in all these categories was greater among girls than among boys. The rates of the alleged committal of homicide and sexual assaults showed no significant change over the years 1991/2 to 1996/7 inclusive, among both boys and girls. Although the rate of alleged criminal activity by boys remains well above that of girls in all categories during this period, girls are “catching up” to boys in the alleged committal of crimes of violence and other crimes against the person.
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