The widespread view that criminals are getting younger and more violent is not borne out by the facts, according to research by the government’s scientific research centre WODC.

Nor are there indications that youngsters are more likely to be suspects or to be convicted for serious violent offences than before, the WODC said on Monday.

The research is based on both police figures and online surveys answered by 20,000 youngsters between the age of 10 and 23.

Youngsters are often arrested in connection with explosions outside homes and business premises, and with picking up drugs from containers at Rotterdam port. However, the figures do not show that suspects and criminals in general are getting younger, the report showed.

“But this does not rule out there being a downward trend in age in some areas and some crime sectors,” the report said.  

At the same time, the percentage of youngsters who say they have committed a crime is 10 times as high as police figures would indicate. “Although most of the offences are not serious, it does show that some crimes largely escape the police radar,” the report said.

The number of youngsters who are suspected or convicted of a crime has halved since the peak period of 2006 to 2008.