In the first semester of the current year, the number of under-aged convicts has decreased, whereas the number of under-aged convicts released on parole is still growing. The first six months of the year recorded that the number of under-aged convicts in Moldova has decreased by 24 persons, totalling 169 under-aged offenders, compared to 193 of the first half last year. The decrease constitutes 12.3%. Meanwhile, the number of under-aged convicts released on parole is growing, from 22 persons released last year up to 37 under-aged released in the first half this year. The ratio constitutes 22% of the total number of under-aged convicts held in the national penitentiary system. The majority of the convicts are imprisoned for committing serious or extremely serious offences. Thus, 38 under-aged persons are imprisoned for grand theft and 35 for theft. 9 under-aged persons are imprisoned for rape and pervert acts, 6 for robbery and 6 for murder. According to the general director of the Department of Penitentiary Institutions, Vladimir Trofim, the under-aged in the prisons are involved in 9 socio-educational programs that aim at re-socializing and initiating the convicts into the social and law sciences, decreasing the violence in the penitentiary and raising the cultural level of the convicts. At the moment, the penitentiaries of Moldova hold 169 under-aged convicts. Over the past year 54 under-aged persons were condemned to prison.