Crimes by youths in Winnipeg appear on the rise in 2011.

Between January and August of 2010, 1300 youths were charged, including 1,059 males and 463 females under the age of 18, according to statistics from police.

Between January and August of 2011, 1,522 youths have been charged, including 1,059 males and 463 females under the age of 18.

Linda Kozlowski's son was murdered in September. A 14-year-old suspect faces charges.

"A kid like that should not be running around on the streets," she said.

Her son, 20-year-old David Vincett, was gunned down on Sept. 25 near Boyd Avenue and Andrews Street.

"The world kind of collapsed. It's like I don't have large hopes and dreams…you don't expect to hear this about a 14 year old," said Kozlowski.

She said the 14-year-old accused already had a long list of convictions and was on probation at the time of the murder.

The crimes youths have been arrested for range from petty theft to first-degree murder.

In 2011, 11 teens have been charged in connection with a number of the year's 34 homicides.

In some cases, those accused are well known to police.

"And that's not in every case but certainly we don't want to think that because someone is involved in a minor offence they could not be more capable of doing something more serious to someone else," said Const. Jason Michalyshen.

Officers said they are nabbing children as young as eight years old for being on the wrong side of the law. Recent surveillance video in Winnipeg show a 10-year-old child and a 13-year-old child committing armed robbery.

In Canada, a child under 12 cannot be charged with a crime, even if they're picked up a number of times.

In Manitoba, police said kids are 12 are referred to an intervention program, called Turnabout, run by Manitoba Justice. Its goal is to try and turn children's lives around before they become hardened criminals.

"We'll offer what support we can," said Beth Ulrich from Manitoba Justice.

"These are children and we don't want to give up on children. If we can provide an opportunity to intervene and stop them from having further contact with the law we should do what we can," she said.

Justice officials said nearly 2,000 kids have successfully completed the Turnabout program in the past seven years. The majority of those had no further contact with corrections officials, even after they turned 12, said officials.

In the last two years, more than 200 children have been referred to the program.

For young offenders age 12 or older, it's mandatory for them to attend classes or work while in custody.

In addition, there is a wide range of programming available for teens in custody, such as gang prevention or anger management programs. 

Young offenders are assigned programs based on individual needs, based on what got them into trouble with the law in the first place.

Linda Kozlowski believes the problem of youths involved in crime has worsened.

"It's so unreal because 20 years ago it wasn't this bad, 10 years ago it wasn't this bad. It's only been in the last few years that you hear all this stuff," she said.

Kozlowski fears the trend will continue, until someone considered important is killed. She said that only when that happens will politicians be pressured into doing something about how young offenders are punished.

Beth Ulrich said that in cases where children become repeat offenders, there are other issues at play, such as poor parenting, poverty or other criminals in the family that contribute to a child's continued bad behaviour.

- with a report from CTV's Caroline Barghout