THE NUMBER of juvenile offenders is rising steadily, police have warned, saying four minors were in prison awaiting trial yesterday alone.
In 2000, 564 minors broke the law, an 11.52 per cent increase on the previous year, police spokesman Lakis Grafias said yesterday. Of these, 552 were boys and 12 were girls. The offences were mostly petty crime, such as burglaries, thefts and damage to private property, he said. Statistics for 2001 have not yet been compiled.
“In theory, you can send these offenders to prison,” said prison director Haris Themistocleous. However, this hardly ever happened, as minors were dealt with differently, he said.
“Unless the crime is terrible, such as rape, they rarely do time.”
Themistocleous regretted the lack of a juvenile correctional facility in Cyprus, forcing judges to send minors to prison if they committed a serious enough crime.
Although the law states there should be a separate wing for underage offenders, prison overpopulation and a lack of juvenile inmates in the system means that adult and minor offenders are integrated.
“Naturally, precautionary measures are taken to ensure nothing happens to the detainees, as we are responsible for them,” he said, adding that staff psychologists and social workers were available if minors were suffering from emotional problems.
At present, the only juveniles in prison are on remand, with no convicted young offenders serving time.
Toulla Michaelides of the Social Welfare Department said she did not believe jail was the solution to the growing problem, particularly if children were forced to mix with long-term adult inmates.
“When a minor is accused by the police, his or her file is sent to our department,” she said. “A social worker is then appointed to the case, and must examine the offender’s family life in detail.”
She explained that living conditions, upbringing and parental interest in the child were all taken into account, as was the child’s personality. “This is all done so that an all-round picture of the minor’s life can be painted, and to examine whether or not its parents can protect it emotionally and financially.”
Social workers will then come up with suggestions based on their assessment of the case. For instance, a first time offender from a stable background might be allowed to go home, whereas a recommendation for a repeat offender might be to place him or her under the department’s custodial care for two years.
She said the Welfare Department had a special committee for underage offenders that convened once a month to examine each case individually. The discussion is based on the original report written up by the social worker, and although the suggestions are taken into account, the committee is not necessarily bound to them.
She said the committee was made up of each district’s chief of police, a district’s social worker or welfare department representative, and the police officer and social worker that first examined the case.
Measures taken could range from court procedures, to custodial care at the state run Youth Refuge Hostel for a period of two years or more. If a minor refuses to leave home to live in at the refuge, a court order can force him or her to do so.
The refuge is for 12-18-year-olds and not only designed to meet underage offenders’ needs. It’s a place for children facing difficulties to go to, and where they can feel safe in a close-knit environment, she said, adding it currently housed 10-12 children there.
“We arrange for them to go to school, we can find the older ones employment, and even set up psychotherapy sessions for some of them at the Makarios Hospital,” said Michaelides.
All this takes place within a stable environment, which is crucial in their disrupted lives. Court decisions usually resort to the hostel, she said, as there are no foster homes on the island.
Another form of ‘positive’ punishment, she said, is community service.
“A law has been passed compelling offenders to partake in community service. For instance, if you cut down 20 forest trees, you have to plant another 20.”
‘It’s a cry for attention’
BROKEN homes and financial deprivation are not the causes behind the current rise in juvenile delinquency, a social worker said yesterday.
Instead, extreme social and parental pressure to succeed, coupled with a lack of parental attention are the root causes of what is growing into a worrying phenomenon in today’s society, said Toulla Michaelides, a Social Welfare Department official.
Michaelides said she was speaking as a parent in asserting her belief that teenage antisocial behaviour was on the rise because society’s attitude and values towards the young had changed.
“We have become a money-loving, materialistic society, and unfortunately parents today don’t realise that their children are more interested in getting love and attention, than fancy cars and clothes,” she said.
Both parents often work, and some even hold down two jobs, she said. What time did the leave for children, she asked?
Michaelides said young offenders were limited to any particular background. They might be rich or poor, from broken homes or not. “It’s a cry for attention,” she said. “A way of saying: ‘hey I exist’.”
Parents and society as a whole put too much academic pressure on children, and instead of letting them do what they want, force then to study subjects they are not interested in or good at, she said.
“Parents should sit with their children and give them time and attention. Hands-on care is very important: listening to your child, physical comfort and emotional support are all included,” she said.
But it’s not all parents’ fault, she added. “Children have become more demanding and parents are told to treat them more liberally and fairly,” she said.
“To make things worse, there’s nowhere for these children to go to either.
“They do not have a choice of interests outside the home and end up spending time in front of the TV instead of being outside and playing.”
And Michaelides warned that childrens’ emotional problems would only increase without support.
“We need to keep our eyes open and work to help our children.
“There should be organised state-funded basketball or football centres, or painting classes and theatre groups,” she suggested as ways of bring children out of themselves.
“If we get them interested in other things, they won’t have too much spare time on their hands when they can get up to mischief because of nothing better to do.”
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
