Crime and offenses among youth

The crime situation among youth has recently deteriorated. In 2019, minors committed 177 crimes (173 in 2018), which is 2.3% more than in the same period last year.

In the first two months of 2020, juvenile delinquency also increased by 19%.

We are concerned that 99 teenagers in 2019 committed socially dangerous acts provided for by the Criminal Code before reaching the age of criminal responsibility, which is significantly more than 67 in 2018, i.e., an increase of 47%! And these are our children who are not actually brought to criminal responsibility, but at the age of 10-13 have actually committed theft, hooliganism, property damage, etc.

Therefore, the quality of individual preventive work with minors by the internal affairs bodies, educational institutions, and the Commission for Juvenile Affairs continues to play an important role. In 2020, supervisory inspections of the quality of this work by individual prevention entities have already been carried out, and in some cases, a lack of proper interaction has been identified.

The total number of administrative offenses committed by children decreased from 2203 to 1923 cases. Parents and their children are not always lawfully brought to justice; instances of "artificial" increase in administrative protocols, where there is actually only one offense, have not been eradicated and will be suppressed by the prosecutor's office this year.

47 children suffered from grave and especially grave crimes (87 in 2018), including 1 (0) from crimes provided for by Article 139 of the Criminal Code.

Great attention will be paid to the prevention of offenses and crimes against children on the Internet.

In 2019, 15 (14) children died from external causes in the Vitebsk region.

In all these areas of activity, in addition to using the supervisory and coordination functions of the prosecutor's office, the prosecutor's offices of the Vitebsk region are focused on expanding cooperation with educational institutions, higher education institutions, and involving youth themselves in preventive work.

For example, in 2019, there was already experience of cooperation with education management bodies and educational institutions on

prevention of drug addiction among youth (methodological recommendations, meetings, "round" tables, etc.)

This year, in conjunction with educational institutions "Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov", educational institution "Polotsk State University" will also implement a number of preventive projects with involvement of students.

Starting this year, the regional prosecutor's office, together with educational institutions, will organize on a systematic basis the involvement of students in legal specialties in the prevention of offenses and minors and youth in educational institutions, including during internships in law enforcement agencies, with the provision of necessary methodological and reference materials.

There is a very good project of our main department for education of the regional executive committee for the creation of a specialized Prevention Center, we hope the prosecutor's offices will take an active part in it. A kind of unification of preventive work will occur. In terms of working with parents – expanding the partnership of prevention entities with parents of children.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor of the Region
Anton Volkov.