Juvenile delinquency persists

The last 10 years saw a drop in the number of minors that commit crimes. Nonetheless, the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency persists in Moldova. The number of underage delinquents last year was 1714, reports Info-Prim Neo, citing a study of the Criminal Reforms Institute. According to experts of the Criminal Reforms Institute, robberies, aggressiveness and alcohol consumption are the main premises for juvenile delinquency. Children that break the law usually come from socially vulnerable, chaotic families, which neglect children, families in which the parents use drugs, drink excessively or left to work abroad, as well as single-parent families. The lack of discipline and poor school education complement the forms of deviant behavior the child may adopt. Only 18.6% have never skipped classes, which has become more or less of a habit for the rest. Children that do not go to school at all are in a high-risk group. The study concludes that fighting juvenile delinquency requires efforts from society as a whole, which must create conditions for the teenagers’ harmonious development and self-respect since early childhood. Key public authorities like the police, social assistance services, employment services, education, healthcare and judicial institutions should form partnerships in order to plan, coordinate and implement actions against juvenile delinquency. The research about “The phenomenon of juvenile delinquency in Moldova” was part of the project “Promoting new elements of justice for children in the Moldovan judiciary”, implemented by the Criminal Reforms Institute with the financial support of UNICEF Moldova and the Swedish Embassy in Chisinau.