More than half of the state\u2019s violent youth gang offences also occurred there, with crimes including abduction, kidnap, assault, aggravated burglary, homicide, robbery, violent weapons and explosives offences.<\/p>\n
Coroner Giles said the state could not police its way out of the problem and that it cost the state $7775 a day to hold teenagers behind bars.<\/p>\n
She found youth gang members were more likely to have experienced family violence<\/a>, come from fragmented family structures and live in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.<\/p>\n Family members released white balloons in memory of Solomone during a ceremony at the site of his death.Credit: Joe Armao<\/p>\n Giles said there was a need to ensure young people, particularly multicultural children and youth, are not marginalised in the community, have the same educational and vocational opportunities as other young Victorians and that their positive contributions to the broader community are recognised, valued and nurtured.<\/p>\n \u201cSocial cohesion and inclusion, as heralded by a whole-of-community response to youth offending \u2013 in which the voices of affected young people are amplified \u2013 is the clearest pathway to long-term safer outcomes for Victorian communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n As part of Giles\u2019 findings, she sought statements from Victoria Police, Youth Justice and the Western Community Legal Centre and has sent her recommendations to Premier Jacinta Allan.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n \u201cThe responsibility to prevent further fatalities from youth knife crime requires a whole-of-community response that addresses the reasons such crimes are being committed in the first place,\u201d Giles said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn nine of 11 gang-related child homicides, there was evidence that the victim was a member of a migrant community.<\/p>\n \u201cWeapon-carrying among young people may [also] be more common among socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.\u201d<\/p>\n Anoushka Jeronimus from Western Community Legal Centre (Westjustice), echoed the coroner\u2019s remarks about addressing the root causes of youth knife crime<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jeronimus warned police and criminal justice-centred responses may only address the symptoms of knife crime and risk unnecessarily criminalising groups of young people already over-represented in the legal system.<\/p>\n Weapon-carrying among young people, Jeronimus said, was also often motivated by fear of victimisation rather than intent to harm.<\/p>\n![\"Family](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/10b621ad0920032a081f92dba5e92ccaf32959ef.jpeg\")
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