Assignment 3 – Storytelling with Open Data
Youth Crime Trends in Victoria During
COVID-19
Brinda Gandhirajan (s40721205)
Introduction
- The COVID-19 pandemic brought massive changes to
how young people lived, learned, and socialised.
- In Victoria, strict lockdowns and school closures
may have had an effect on youth behaviour — including crime.
- This project explores youth crime trends before,
during, and after the COVID-19 lockdowns using open data from the
Australian Bureau of Statistics (via Kaggle).
- We ask:
How did youth crime in Victoria shift during the pandemic years, and
what stories do the data tell us?
About the Dataset
- Source: Australian Bureau of
Statistics (ABS) via Kaggle
- Data range: 2008–09 to
2021–22
- Focus: Youth offender counts by
offence type, year, and region
- Scope for this project:
- Region: Victoria only
- Years of interest: 2017–18 to 2021–22
- Periods compared: Pre-COVID, During COVID,
Post-COVID
Total Youth Offences in Victoria (2008–2022)
Timeline Overview
- Pre-COVID: 2017–18 to 2018–19
- During COVID: 2019–20 to
2020–21
- Post-COVID: 2021–22
- Lockdowns and school closures may have reduced
public offences, but increased tension at home
- Trends are contextualised against these
periods
Top 5 Offence Types (2018–2022)
Assault Trends: Youth Violence During COVID
Observations
- Sharp decline in overall youth crime during
2020–21, likely due to pandemic restrictions.
- Offences like theft and property damage dropped the
most — possibly linked to less time spent in public spaces.
- Assault-related offences did not decline as much,
suggesting a shift in the location or type of incidents.
- Recovery in youth offence numbers in 2021–22 hints
at a return to pre-pandemic behaviour patterns.
Key Insights
- Youth crime in Victoria decreased significantly in
2020–21, likely due to lockdowns
- Theft and public-related crimes saw the biggest
drop
- Assault and domestic-type offences remained steady
or rose slightly
- Post-COVID, some rebound observed — especially in
2021–22