The necessity of specifying by law the status of minors who commit offenses while under the age of criminal responsibility and of instituting special procedures for investigating and solving cases involving these children, including by educational measures, in accordance with the European and international standards was discussed in an international conference staged in Chisinau by the people’s ombudswoman for children’s rights Maia Banarescu, IPN reports.

The ombudswoman said there are no clear regulations for dealing with cases involving minors under the age of criminal responsibility, which is 16 and, respectively, 14 in the case of very serious offenses. The minors should benefit from specialized assistance, placement, surveillance and guidance services and from general education and alternative programs. The measures should be non-repressive in character. The inter-institutional cooperation should be facilitated and an integrated approach based on preventive and social protection measures should be adopted.

Director of the Institute for Penal Reform Victor Zaharia said the legal framework should be modified so that it defines a clear educational not correctional path for children in the legal system. The stages and the separate responsibilities of each specialist apart should be regulated.

Dorel Nistor, head of the Child Safety Division of the General Police Inspectorate, said the number of offenses committed by minors has slightly decreased compared with the previous years. Minors aged between 10 and 15 this year have committed over 500 offenses, mainly thefts, as the previous years, and acts of hooliganism.

According to the Department of Penitentiary Institutions, 28 minors serve time in the national penitentiaries, while 32 are in remand detention. Most of these were convicted of serious or exceptionally serious offenses, such as murder, rape and other sex offenses. Almost half of these minors were earlier tried for theft, robbery and other offenses and not only once.

The people’s ombudswoman for children’s rights Maia Banarescu proposed constituting under her aegis a working group that would draft a bill on the status of children in the legal system.