Singapore, Nov 8 (IANS): Up to 422 young people committed cheating offences in Singapore last year, increasing from 260 in 2019, according to the Supporting Youth Rehabilitation Trends Report issued by the Ministry of Social and Family Development on Friday.

The offending rate for youths below 21 years in Singapore was 4.9 per 1,000 people in 2023, compared to the rate of 4.6 per 1,000 people in 2022.

The top three crimes committed by youth offenders were shop theft, cheating and related offences, and sexual offenses.

Completion rates across rehabilitation programmes remained at around 90 per cent in 2023. The overall two-year recidivism rate remained below 10 per cent among young offenders who completed rehabilitation from 2019 to 2021, according to the report.

The government vowed to expand rehabilitative support for older youth offenders and work with youths' families and community partners to ensure the rehabilitative needs of youth offenders, Xinhua news agency reported.