The number of under-age girls being charged with criminal offences has gone up 300% over the past 13 years, according to new figures from the national statistics office CBS.

In 1995, 2,200 girls faced prosecution, but last year the total had risen to over 6,800. In 1995, girls were responsible for one in 10 juvenile convictions, but that has now risen to one in five.
Boys faced prosecution for 21,000 offences in 1995 and 31,000 last year.
Plans to investigate why so many more girls are involved in crime have been shelved because the public prosecution department has ‘other priorities’, the Telegraaf said on Monday.