Juvenile delinquency

Recently there was much public debate about the issue of sending children to prison. While obviously agreeing that prison is not a suitable place for the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents, I feel that we should also discuss how Maltese society can become more aware of potential sources of juvenile delinquency that are not being adequately addressed.

The role of parents is, of course, crucial. Several cases of juvenile delinquency are the result of parents neglecting their children and shirking their role of educating and disciplining them. One often sees children who seem to spend long hours wandering around the streets and squares of their town/village, usually getting so bored that they end up indulging in some kind of mischief or another, like ringing the bells of residences and running away, being cruel to stray animals etc. This is often the beginning of the road towards a life of delinquency.

One should also cater for occasions which are a challenge to the vulnerability of older children, that is, adolescents. Juvenile delinquency is part of the human condition but we can still do something to avoid situations that lead to it. A case in point is that of secondary school students who walk from home to school and back. I feel that more supervision by officers of the law is needed here.

Those who live close to girls' secondary schools, for example, cannot but be preoccupied about the dangers faced by such female students when walking to and back from school.

Often, much older men in cars stop to chat to such female students and I myself have often witnessed cases where students get into the car and drive off with these men. For some students, these escapades become a regular occurrence and, most of the time, their parents back at home are totally unaware of what is happening! Such students are exposing themselves to serious dangers of sexual exploitation, introduction to substance abuse and other forms of delinquency.

One should also mention the need of more adequate supervision of public gardens. Unfortunately, such public sites are often the target of several troublesome aspects of juvenile delinquency. What very often happens in so many public gardens in Malta is that a group of youths start using the place as a regular meeting place. Shouting and all types of horseplay become an everyday occurrence, sometimes exacerbated by substance abuse. Vandalism is also very common. How many times have we seen new public benches damaged by such groups of youths for no apparent reason at all except the sheer perverse joy of destroying public property? Even here, a handful of wardens detailed to watch over public places of recreation would go a long way towards curbing such abuses.

There are many other forms of juvenile delinquency. One can mention petty theft, the bullying of timid peers, the ridiculing of disabled persons, sexual harassment, etc.

I firmly believe that, in order to reduce the rate of juvenile delinquency in Malta, we need authoritative parents; parents who can be assertive with their children in the latter's best interests but without being authoritarian with them as this tends to be counter-productive. We need more awareness among educators of the personal and social problems faced by their students. We need to continue consolidating and improving support services for those juveniles at risk of falling into a life of delinquency. As already mentioned above, we also have to ensure that places and occasions of potential juvenile delinquency are closely monitored and controlled so that early manifestations of such juvenile delinquency will be nipped in the bud before the situation gets worse.

Finally, we have to try to rehabilitate and guide into a better life those juveniles who break the law, always taking into consideration their young age and inexperience of life. As I wrote at the beginning of this article, children should not be sent to prison. We have to make full use of other saner alternatives such as probation or, in the case of more serious offences, community service.

All this should be allied to the offender following a course of rehabilitation in order to become one of society's assets instead of one of its liabilities. After all, there is nothing sadder in life than a very young person who, through his/her actions, has already prejudiced his/her chances of a bright future.