The number of rapes, murders and other violent crimes committed by juveniles increased by nearly 50 percent in the past two years, despite a decrease in adolescent crime overall, a government report said on Wednesday.

According to a report by the National Police Agency, 3,428 adolescents were convicted of robberies, rapes, arsons and murders in 2010, a 48 percent increase from 2008.

The report submitted to the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee, showed that the increase had continued this year as 1,535 juveniles were convicted as of June.

Among the violent crimes, the number of minors convicted of rape saw the biggest increase, skyrocketing during the two-year period from 464 minors in 2008 to 2,029.

Murder showed a 21 percent increase to 23 convicted minors, while during the same period robberies and arson saw a decrease of 25 and 24 percent, respectively.

However the number of adolescents suspected of committing crimes decreased by 23 percent over the two years, with 94,862 minors in 2010.

Of the 94,862, 39 percent were suspected of larceny, followed by 25.9 percent suspected of assault, with murder, rape, arson and other violent crimes taking up 3.6 percent.

The number of adolescent victims saw an increase, especially those of sexual assault.

According to another report by the NPA, 33,078 sexual crimes were committed against minors from 2006 to June of 2011, with cases steadily increasing through the years.

In 2006 there were 5,168 cases of sexual crimes against minors, which increased to 6,339 cases in 2008 and 7,367 cases in 2010.

Incest against minors saw an increase as well, with at least one crime committed a day, over the same period.

From 2006 to June of 2011 2,089 crimes of incest against adolescents were committed.

The number of crimes saw a disturbing increase as well, with 331 cases in 2006, 373 cases in 2008 and 468 in 2010. As of June 2011, there were 207 cases of incest committed against minors.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)