The forensic psychiatrist working with Victoria's young offenders: when you know their origins, you wonder how they've survived at all'

"You don't live with mum and dad. School has always been hard keeping up, fitting in. Then lockdown hits. Classes move online but you don't have internet access. You fall behind. One day, you skip school altogether. At a shopping centre, you meet a couple of kids. They seem friendly. They hand you a machete. By the end of the day, you've committed a serious, high-profile crime. This isn't a hypothetical."

"Adam Deacon, a child and youth forensic psychiatrist with nearly two decades of experience in Victoria's youth justice system, says he's worked with hundreds of children who have experienced such a sliding door moment a split-second decision that changes their life for ever. You couldn't have foreseen this a day earlier, if not for their certain vulnerabilities, he says. Such vulnerabilities, Deacon says, were intensified by Melbourne's prolonged Covid-19 lockdowns and are now surfacing in crime statistics."

Many children experienced educational disruption during prolonged lockdowns, losing internet access and falling behind when classes moved online. Vulnerable children sometimes encounter abrupt, life-changing moments that result in serious offending after brief encounters. Lockdown-related social isolation and unmet mental health needs intensified vulnerabilities including autism and ADHD, contributing to increased youth offending. State crime rates rose over 18 months, driven partly by repeat offenders and a small cohort of young people arrested repeatedly. Children accounted for a large share of robberies, carjackings and home invasions, prompting new laws tightening bail and increasing penalties for violent juvenile crime.

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