MORE girls than boys were brought before the courts in 2023 to answer to a wide range of criminal offences, shifting the gender of offenders for the first time in three years.

Girl offenders brought to book numbered 444, in comparison to boys at 309. Of the 444 girls who were brought before the courts, 397 of them were booked for either child abandonment or child abuse. There were 197 boys who were accused of the same offence.

Comparably, in 2021 there were 600 boys and 504 girls who faced the courts, and in 2020 there were 705 male and 477 female juvenile offenders. Data for 2022 were not available.

Of note, though, is that boys accounted for the majority of the major and violent crimes committed by juveniles, while girls stood out in the category of child abandonment and child abuse.

These statistics are featured in the recently released 2023 edition of the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica (ESSJ).

The survey, which has been an annual publication since 1957, gives a comprehensive analysis of the country’s economic and social progress.

Meanwhile, there were no cases of children committing murders either in 2020, 2021 or 2023, according to the survey. As for the year 2022, the report cited that no data were available.

Last year there were no cases of children conspiring or attempting to commit murder, and the situation was the same in 2021. However, in 2020 one boy faced the court for that offence.

The report presented high numbers of juvenile male participation in sexual crimes, robbery with aggravation, larceny, wounding and assault, as well as breaches of the firearms law and shooting with intent.

In 2023 there were 13 male juveniles and seven female juveniles who faced the courts for sexual offences. There were 40 male juveniles and seven female juveniles accused of committing sexual offences in 2021, and 59 male juveniles and three female juveniles in 2020.

For offences such as robbery with aggravation, 39 males and two female juveniles faced the courts in 2023. Twenty-eight males and four female juveniles faced the court in 2021. In 2020, 69 males and 11 female juveniles were accused of robbery.

A total of 40 boys were charged with wounding and assault occasioning bodily harm, along with 21 girls in 2023.

Twenty-nine boys and two girls were booked for breaching the firearms law or shooting with intent. Four males and three female juveniles were charged with arson and malicious destruction of property while 28 males and one female juvenile were charged with breaking the road traffic law.