Internet blamed for crime spike of thieving teens QUEENSLAND'S top judge has blamed social media for "divorcing young people from the reality of day-to-day life" as new statistics show 15-19-year-olds commit the most crimes of any age group. A post-mortem of national crime released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday showed the majority of Queensland offenders were mostly sticky-fingered teens who learned their lesson after their first brush with the law. The statistics revealed police nabbed 18,168 offenders aged between 15-19 in the past financial year, mostly for stealing. Chief Justice Paul de Jersey said as well as the traditional reasons for youth offending, technology was also to blame. "The internet has a downside, exposing youths to graphic and inflammatory material," Justice de Jersey said. Social media operates in a way which can divorce young people from the reality of day-to-day life. Facing the computer screen, people may forget the real-world consequences of what they do. Most youth offenders had been caught stealing (4923) or busted for public order offences (4430), such as being drunk in a public place or trespassing. The ABS data also revealed there were 1589 hardcore offenders aged between 10-19 in Queensland who were repeatedly in trouble with police. More than 3000 offenders were netted for drug offences. Justice de Jersey said drugs were having a significant impact on youth crime. The unfortunate and sad probability is that the prevalence of theft by youths is related to drug usage - stealing to fund drug purchases and stealing opportunistically while under the influence of drugs. That the highest offending rate was among 15 to 19-year-olds is the result of a number of factors - the pervasiveness of the drug culture; peer pressure; reduction in traditional family influence; generational unemployment and under employment. It may also suggest a defiant lack of respect for traditional centres of authority, including the courts. It comes just a day after Arthur Gorrie jail boss Sue Noordink said teens should be forced to watch a documentary about what life was like in jail. Despite concerns about the behaviour of Queensland teens, statistics show the state is one of the luckier ones. "Tasmania and the Northern Territory have consistently had the highest youth offender rates over the last four years," the ABS said. Between 2010-11 and 2011-12, the youth offender rate decreased across all jurisdictions except Victoria.