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‘Fagin’s Law’ to target corrupting adults in Victoria

The character Fagin in Oliver Twist encouraged orphans to steal.

The character Fagin in Oliver Twist encouraged orphans to steal.

The Victorian Government has said it will introduce a new offence to target adults procuring children to do their criminal “dirty work”.

Attorney-General Martin Pakula said legislation would be introduced to State Parliament next year to see adult criminals facing up to 10 years’ jail for such behaviour.

The new law has been dubbed Fagin’s Law, after the antagonist in the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist who teaches children to steal for him in exchange for shelter.

It is the latest attempt from the State Government to crack down on youth crime, following a spate of highly publicised violent offences and unrest in the youth justice system.

“We know, in some instances, where young people are stealing in particular, they’re doing so at the behest of older criminals,” Mr Pakula said.

“This will mean that those older criminals who encourage young people to commit crimes could land themselves behind bars for 10 years, and it gives the police the power to better protect the community.”

There is already an offence for incitement in Victoria, but Mr Pakula said it required police and prosecutors to prove a specific crime had been procured.

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The Victorian Government will spend $2 billion recruiting nearly 3000 extra police over four years. Photo: ABC

“This is more general, this is about criminals who, for example, just tell young people to steal things and bring them to them for payment,” he said.

“There is a gap in that law at the moment — there isn’t a specific offence that deals with that.

“We don’t want to see these criminal bigwigs getting away with their crimes simply because they use a young person to do their dirty work.”

On Sunday, the State Government said it would spend $2 billion recruiting nearly 3000 extra police over four years and upgrading and replacing stations.

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