VOA: The number of minors involved in criminal offenses is increasing

2023-10-20 22:50:37, Kronika CNA

Criminal offenses committed by minors are increasing rapidly, reflecting the situation in which the Albanian society finds itself. Only during this week, in Shkodër, Tirana and Kamëz, three criminal offenses were registered with the involvement of 11 minors, resulting in the injury of three of them.

According to a report by the prosecutor's office, within the last two years, criminal offenses committed by minors have increased by 16.6 percent.

"Minors in conflict with the law have been increasing in recent years, this is according to what is declared by the institutions of justice, the police, the prosecution, the court with its yearbook. They are increasing because, year after year, the criminal offenses they commit are also changing. And the criminal offenses that minors are committing are thefts and the very scary commitment they have in relation to the sale of narcotics", says criminologist Vinifreda Gazulli.

The data of the Institute of Statistics speak of 1,773 persons under the age of 18 who are perpetrators of criminal offences. 572 of them have been taken by the prosecution body as defendants or as persons under investigation for the commission of criminal offenses, while for 25 minors the security measure of arrest and imprisonment has been taken.

The director of the Shkodra Police, Edmond Sulaj, citing concrete cases, says that minors are committing criminal offenses even within the doors of the school where they learn.

"Like the case in two schools in the city of Shkodra, where two students distributed narcotics in the schools where they were students, as well as carrying cutting tools. "Police structures throughout the district are cooperating with security officers in schools and teaching staff by conducting checks in order to prevent the introduction of narcotics into schools or other illegal items," he declared.

For psychologist Fatjon Taipi, today's young people, in the age of the Internet and social networks, face other challenges than those of previous generations, and this often puts them in a conflict situation.

"Young people, especially after the pandemic, are facing a new challenge. This challenge is mainly about the family, the way family dynamics are changing, but it is also a global challenge that today's teenagers belong to generation Z. This is a new generation, which has needs and interests new, there are new forms and values ??for the construction of identity", he says.

The expert Vinifreda Gazulli says that, in recent years, deep transformations are taking place in the traditional Albanian family, which culturally has always been

united and closed. According to her, the social and economic situation of the family has its influence on the behavior of minors.

"This big change in the family structure, problems between parents, social problems, problems mainly related to poverty, are what mainly bring these problems to minors, who manifest them in other social environments. And the second very important social environment is precisely the school".

With the changes in the criminal code, according to expert Gazulli, the prosecution and the court find it difficult to give sentences, because most of the criminal offenses committed by minors are classified as light. Under these conditions, minors become repeat offenders and institutions and families find it difficult to manage them. As for the psychologist Taipi, measures against minors in conflict with the law should be taken not from the need that adults have to protect children.

"There is a clash, there is a misunderstanding, a conflict between young people and the measures that are taken. It is very necessary that the measures that are taken come from studies that are done with young people and not from the needs of adults to protect children. This is the main dilemma, the main discrepancy we have between generations. And generations change very quickly after the pandemic period as it relates to the use of social networks and technology".

According to official data, most of the minors under 18 manage to avoid punishment through the application by the prosecution of the alternative measure of avoidance. Thus, in 266 cases involving 237 minor perpetrators, the criminal case was dismissed. 230 of them were warned in writing, 3 were advised, 2 others were warned verbally, and only two juvenile defendants were put under caution./ VOA