Part 2: Victoria's gang crime

Part 2 of a critical look at Victoria's crime spike

Why is Sudanese Crime in Victoria an important issue?

In this article I will demonstrate its importance rests on two factors:

1. The Sudanese-born Australian population is over-represented in Victorian crime 

2. This population is set to increase with time

The Sudanese-born Australian population is over-represented in Victorian crime

Sudanese-Australians are overrepresented in Victoria’s gang crime. In the words of the ‘Diversity Council Australia’:

“Statistics show Australians born in Sudan make up 0.1 percent of Victoria’s total population, and constitute 1% of alleged offenders in Victoria.”

This means the Sudanese-born Australian population is 10 times more represented in Victorian crime than it should be.

A new.com.au article from 2018 states that according to Victoria’s Crime Statistic agency:

“Sudanese-born people are 57 times more likely to be charged with aggravated robbery in Victoria than their Australian-born counterparts.”

and also that this same Sudanese-born population was

“33 times more likely to be charged with riot and affray compared with Australian-born counterparts.”

This is not unprecendented, a broad look at African populations in other Western countries reveals a general trend of over-representation in crime.

In the UK during the period from January 2006 to March 2009, the Independent reported that out of the 92 youths convicted of gang rape,

“66 were black or mixed race, 13 were white and the remainder were from other countries including Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.”

at the time, African-Britons were only 11% of the population.

America gives us some of the clearest data, FBI crime statistics show that African-Americans represent 13% of the general population and commit more than half of the country’s homicides and are overrepresented in most other violent crime.

Sudan is actually one of the safer African countries, according to many global crime rankings it is often placed somewhere near Australia. NSW and Queensland, both with similarly sized Sudanese populations don’t experiece similar Sudanese gang problems. This is most likely a result of tougher policing in NSW and Queensland as opposed to Victoria. If Victoria utilised a similar strategy they would most likely increase the Sudanese prison population.

Australia’s prison population grew between 2020 and 2021. Is Australia so desperate for immigration we are willing to either increase our country’s prison population or crime rate?

This population is set to increase with time

Yes, it is true, currently, 1% of crime is not going to affect the vast, overwhelming majority of the Victorian population. So why bother even mentioning this overrepresentation?

Both the Liberal and Labor parties have no plans to curtail immigration, Anthony Albanese has suggested permanent residency for foreign workers may be in the cards, and the supposedly conservative Liberal party pushed for 150,000 new migrants a year. As such we can expect Victoria’s Sudanese population, and Victoria’s Sudanese crime problem to grow in years to come.

Read part 1 here