Crime Involving Young British Girls Up Dramatically In Just Three Years

London, England (AHN) - British girls between the ages 10 to 17 have increased their share of criminal acts with 59,236 incidents reported in 2006-07. The figure represents a 25 percent jump from 47,358 young girl crimes in 2003-04.

In contrast, British boys even registered a 2 percent decline in crime rates for the same period. However, despite the emerging trends, the bulk of offenders were still young men.

The data comes from the Youth Justice Board's Annual Workload report, released Thursday.

Among the crimes frequently committed by young British girls were violent attacks with 16,000 incidents, theft 20,000, arson 180, drug crimes 1,000, driving offenses 1,500 and public order crimes 6,000.

The board told the Guardian Unlimited it commissioned another research to probe into the reasons behind the dramatic rise in crimes committed by British girls.

In an editorial, the Telegraph of U.K. pointed to the availability of cheap alcohol and the non-stop increase in number of broken homes as the probable reasons behind the misbehavior of young British ladies.

The Telegraph added, "This trend will only be arrested when a proper sense of order is restored to our streets through a far more pro-active police presence." The British daily maintained that a robust approach to anti-social behavior by both genders "will have a direct impact on more serious criminality."