Crime is being spoken about a lot in the lead up to the state election this November. Knife crime, youth crime and vehicle crime are some of the types of crime making headlines. Do the numbers back up how much they are spoken about? Is crime really on the rise? And whose crime response do you most align with?
Knife Crime
In September the Carroll Labor Government promised to expand police stop and search powers if re-elected in the November election. These powers are known as “Jacks Laws” and had been adopted in other states including Queensland and New South Wales already. “Jack’s Law” is intended to bring down knife crime and is a policy the Coalition previously announced to bring in if elected. In 2025 Victoria bought in manchette bans in response to knife crime.
Data from crime statistics Victoria show that in a 12-month period ‘prohibited and controlled weapons offences’, offences listing “knife” in the description have increased. This increase is large, from no reported offences in 2025 to a total of 23 reported knife offences in 2026. In the previous decade there were only five reported offences, so this is a drastic increase.
Youth Crime
Youth crime is also impacting how Victorians are voting. Recently a video circulated social media of Labor Premier Ben Carroll being asked about youth crime and “Sudanese gangs”. Whilst Carroll promptly left after being asked and didn’t answer the question former Premier Jacinta Allen previously share Labors plans to reduce youth crime. “Our plan to reduce violent youth crime delivers both serious consequences and early interventions.” The Allen Labor Government introduced a new prevention initiative with ‘Think village” to join existing initiatives. However, data released in a September report from Victoria Auditor-Generals Office (VAGO) indicated that despite these prevention initiates youth crime has not decreased. The Coalition position on youth crime is that the Labor government needs to strengthen these early interventions and reform bail systems.
The data and report from VAGO shared that alleged offender incidents from youth, ages 10 to 17, has increased in the past 12-months. From 23.5 thousand incidents in 2025 to 23.9 thousand incidents in 2026. This trend of increasing youth crime is seen more prevalently when looking at the previous 10 years. With alleged offender incidents from this youth age bracket increasing from 18.8 thousand incidents in 2016 to the 23.9 thousand incidents in 2025. Despite government interventions youth crime rated are still growing.
Vehicle Crime
Vehicle crime, specifically vehicle theft is another big talking point, this focus on vehicle theft comes after a report from the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA). The Labor government have not yet commented on vehicle crime specifically ahead of the next election. On the other side, the Liberal party has expanded their ‘Adult crime, adult time’ policy to include vehicle theft, in attempt to crack down on these numbers. With member for Brighton James Newsbury stating, “Only the Liberals and Nationals have a plan to reduce crime, lower costs and deliver a government that works.”
Data from the ICA showed no real increase in motor vehicle theft claims from 2025 to 2026. However, in the past 5 years there has been a large increase, from just over 4 thousand in 2022 to over 12 thousand in 2026. These thefts mostly occur in metropolitan Melbourne and according to the ICA in Victoria a car is broken into or stolen every 43 minutes.
This article is part of a multimedia pair, watch the accompanying video.
