I think it is parenting MOST of the time--and also the programs and games that kids are into these days.  Parents should teach their kids right from wrong and if they don't do the right thing then they should bare the consenquences.

However I do think films / programs on TV and the violent games they play has a lot to do with bad behavior

Parents should have a license before they have children ??

Is well on the way in this nanny country -  they talking about the grandparents having to have a certificate before assisting with the raising of their grandchildren so obviously the Government must think it is the grand parents fault.

Yes Abby we have to have a licence for everything else.

Dinks are there any stats on this because in my experience kids are better behaved and parents perhaps are too Molly coddling of their children.

There is some stats here

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/child-crime-on-the-rise-new-figures-show/story-e6frf7jo-1225864267685

KIDDY criminals in Victoria are getting younger and more violent - and there are more of them.

The number of alleged offenders aged 14 or younger has risen 27 per cent in three years, with a 30 per cent jump in violent crimes.

In 2008-09 police dealt with 4867 alleged offenders aged 14 or younger - 56 were aged nine or under.

They were accused of 11,093 crimes - 1635 of them violent, including a murder, 219 sex attacks, 237 robberies and 1171 assaults.

And more than one in five crimes are now committed by boys and girls aged 17 or younger, including every second robbery, one in every three home burglaries and one in six assaults.

One in every 16 Victorian boys aged 15 to 19 were arrested, charged or formally cautioned by police in the past year.

The shock findings are the tip of a teen crime wave that has seen the number of juveniles sentenced to detention jump by more than a third in three years.

More than 14,000 school-aged children were arrested, charged or cautioned by police for 36,000 separate crimes in 2008-09.

JUVENILE OFFENCES
Alleged offenders aged 14 and younger in 2008-09
Homicide 1
Rape 24
Sex attack 195
Robbery 237
Assault 1171
Abduction 7
Arson 229
Property damage 1979
Burglary (aggravated) 35
Burglary (residential) 732
Burglary (other) 676
Deception 66
Handle stolen goods 169
Theft from motor vehicle 587
Shoplift 2341
Theft of motor vehicle 464
Theft of bicycle 127
Theft (other) 661
Drug (cultivate/manufacture/traffi c) 12
Drug (possess/use) 82
Going equipped to steal 19
Justice procedures 224
Public order 155
Weapons/explosives 219
Harassment 25
Behaviour in public 132
Other 524
Source: Victoria Police

The article theorises as to why it is hapenning ?

Of course these are stats only from Victoria - wonder how that compares to the other States

For your figures to have  any meaning  we would need to know the number of children in the age group for a start. 

most children copy the behaviour they see at home,     if they are treated with respect at home they will show respect,   the trouble in a lot of cases is a lot of children these days are being reared in homes with multiple male role models,   more and more  single girls are having kids,  with no stable male in there lives,   one boyfriend goes another comes on the scene,   they get left to there own devices,   so are not taught right from wrong,   im not talking every single mother,   there are a lot of good ones out there, but some of these girls are not much more than babes themselves,    i see kids who look 12/13 wheeling prams around,      they dont know right from wrong themselves, how can they rear kids,?

We are not allowed to smack their backsides for being naughty...........here is the result of that stupid law.

The consequences for mugging someone, robbing someone, breaking into homes, setting fires etc are just a slap on the wrist for juvenilles.

Until such time as we have a decent penalty for these offences they will continue.  They just don't care  if they get caught;  I have even heard them say that and laugh as they leave the Magistrates Court.

The parenting of today leaves a lot to be desired (not all parents but a great many in society) and the general public are left to suffer the consequences of the crimes committed by these "ferals".

God only knows what the next generation will be like after the current crop procreate!

Interesting article Helicopter parentsRelax, your kids will be fineMiddle-class parents should give their children more freedom

IN 1693 the philosopher John Locke warned that children should not be given too much “unwholesome fruit” to eat. Three centuries later, misguided ideas about child-rearing are still rife. Many parents fret that their offspring will die unless ceaselessly watched. In America the law can be equally paranoid. In South Carolina this month Debra Harrell was jailed for letting her nine-year-old daughter play in a park unsupervised. The child, who had a mobile phone and had not been harmed in any way, was briefly taken into custody of the social services.

One thing that fascinates me about all this in saying it is the parents fault is that our generation were the parents of the generation who are now being blamed for bad parenting. So what did we do so wrong in bringing ing up our generation of children that they have what we now claim are such poor parenting skills? Perhaps the materialism that started with our generation? 

Good point cats..kids do imitate parents and that's why it's so hard. Parents usually are stressed out and can't give the time to the kids as they should. Sad really.

Dinks,

I have mentioned this before.

I was raised in an institution along with a hundred or so other boys. Adults were distant figures in our lives and to be avoided.

I have never come across a more ethical, moral and caring group as this bunch of boys. These attitudes came from the boys themselves not from the adults.

I met many of these boys in later years and these attitudes had continued, they virtually all had become well adjusted normal, average if anything, citizens.

I have thought about this at some length over the years and whilst it does appear a group of children under duress really do shine the whys and wherefores are still a bit of a mystery. It is obvious though that it is the adults that provide the poor example.

Take it easy.

SD