By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW, Jun 21 2006 (IPS)

The number of crimes committed by Russian teenagers is growing steadily, according to a new report by the interior ministry, prompting soul-searching in the country about the erosion of Russian families.

Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said that last year more than 150,000 youths under 16 committed various crimes, including 1,200 murders, 3,300 assaults and 18,000 robberies. The report also said that about 100,000 minors were alcoholics or drug users. The number of girls who broke the law increased to 13,000, he said, without providing comparative figures.

The greatest number is found in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Rostov, Samarskeye, Voronezh, Murmansk and Nizhny-Novgorod regions, the report says.

“All serious crimes are committed, as a rule, in a group, and are notable for their high level of cruelty and need for special attention by the state and society,” he said. “This dangerous trend has not changed for the better in the past few years. I think that we all understand well: the prevailing situation poses a serious threat to the development of our country.”

Efforts to reverse the upward trend in juvenile crime rates have not been successful, and last year saw a 5.4 percent rise in teenage crimes, he said. The problem of demography was cited as one of the most acute problems of modern Russia, Nurgaliyev added, citing an erosion of the family unit and protection of children from criminality and antisocial activity.

An expert with the Children’s Commission of the Public Chamber, Boris Altshuler, says a lack of social values and a general crisis in Russian families are contributing to widespread crime among youth.

“The main cause is negligence of family responsibilities on a large scale and simultaneous growth of orphans who inevitably find themselves in the streets without adequate care, (and) in most cases are prone to commit crimes,” Altshuler told IPS.

He says Russia’s failure to implement an adequate juvenile justice system, and to accept the recommendations of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, is also contributing to the problem.

He added that living conditions in orphanages are deplorable, and many children who flee easily fall prey to criminal groups.

An estimated 650,000 children live in orphanages, according to the International Technical Assistance Group, which organises aid projects with other church groups to improve the lives of orphans and street children.

Many others are even less fortunate. According to official statistics, 1.3 million Russian children are currently living on the streets.

“Our main concern is to follow the events and not to allow too much bureaucracy to overshadow the key issues in President (Vladimir) Putin’s May 10, 2006 policy directives which he had outlined. This is important because the only remedy for the family and childhood disaster of modern Russia (including the problem of growing teenage crime) would be creation of a state system capable of providing the necessary social services, and capable of moving kids from orphanage institutions to a family environment,” Altshuler stressed.

Some State Duma deputies said it would be necessary for authorities to alleviate the conditions in which juvenile crime is breeding, since the level of crime depends on the spiritual health and moral stability of the society.

“Children’s mentality is distorted by information from the media, both print and electronic. They provide negative information on the level of aggression and propaganda of violence and cruelty,” Liberal Democratic Party member Lyubov Blizhkina told IPS.

“Today, the degree of danger to the public that comes from the country’s media is huge, combined with greediness and callousness that were cultivated in many families,” she said. “What measures will be undertaken by government for purposes of solving the problems, which are the source of an increase in criminality among minors?”

The majority of the population lives on a modest budget, she observed, and children’s recreational activities are often unaffordable, leaving them with too much time on their hands.

Government officials insist that they plan to make the fight against crime a priority. The local media have been awash with criticisms of deep-seated corruption and lackadaisical attitudes by law enforcement officers – a major factor that analysts say is contributing to the problem.

More than 50 percent of Russians said in a sociological survey that the electronic media and access to internet crime sites were to blame for the proliferation of violent culture among youth, according the Public Opinion Foundation.

“It is necessary to review news programmes and increase those portraying the experiences of healthy families as well as educational films with exemplary social values for the public, most especially our children, to stimulate patriotism. The educational effect of this measure is really obvious,” Irina Shurygina, a researcher at the Russian Academy of Science’s Institute of Sociology, told IPS.

“We should also develop and maintain a state system of support and measures of material assistance for underprivileged families. We would be able to solve the task of guaranteeing worthy childhood, worthy family formation, worthy spiritual development.”

Practical solutions can be tackled by the government, cultural and sports associations, the media and law enforcement agencies, Shurygina suggested.

Sources at the State Duma Legislative Committee said an amendment to the criminal code was necessary to provide stricter punishment for crimes committed by teenage youth to serve as deterrent, and would urge a coordinated youth policy to guarantee the survival and protection of children.

“Quite understandably, children who commit crimes need to be punished within the confines of the law,” State Duma Legislative Committee Chairman Pavel Krasheninnikov told IPS.

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