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 account for a 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 the person is by the most common type of crime committed by girls, accounting for 60 per cent of offences. Criminal damage is the second most common, at 15 per cent.

This is in stark contrast to offending by boys, with violence only accounting for 14 per cent 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, although last year saw a number of incidents involving emergency workers being attacked.

Around 55 of 240 youngers referred to the youth offending service in 2023 were female (Staffordshire Police).

The youth offending service is currently piloting a girls group, co-designed with the female offenders themselves, while staff have also received extra training for working with young females. Joy Molloy, head of the youth offending service, told members of the children and family services 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.

"One thing worth noting is that the majority of female offending is to do with violence. Offending by male children, on the other hand, is much more varied.

"So is this a case of female violence increasing in the last few years? Or is it more a case of it being more likely that violence is reported if a female is the cause? That is my working hypothesis at the moment."

Violence accounts for 60 per cent of offences committed by girls (Staffordshire Police).

The number of children in Stoke-on-Trent becoming a first-time entrant into the youth justice system 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 of first-time entrants this year.

The plan says that this will 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 into the prevention service.

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