Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Involvement of youth in crime rising

IS BANGALORE going the way of affluent cities all over the world when it comes to crime by the youth?

The City Police Commissioner, S. Mariswamy, who spoke at a seminar on Thursday, indicated that young persons below 25 were increasingly involved in major crime. Not high-spirited youthful antics like over-speeding on a fast motorcycle, but criminal acts such as murder and robbery.

Mr. Mariswamy amplified his remark by explaining that analysis of crime from 1999 to 2003 proved this. Close to 60 per cent of those accused of murder, more than 65 per cent of dacoities, 64 per cent of burglaries, and 61 per cent of thefts were from this age group. Youth outnumbered the older age groups when it came to what were considered serious crime.

While crime statistics for earlier years were not analysed, there was every reason to believe that more young persons were now involved in crime, the Police Commissioner said. Disintegrating joint families with no elders to really guide the young, breakdown of the traditional value system, unemployment, and crime being "glorified" in some sections of the media were the reasons he gave for such a situation.

Does the media glorify crime? According to a senior journalist who participated in the seminar, movies and to some extent television portrayed criminals as leading glamorous and luxurious lives. The "crime does not pay" aspect received less attention. Unemployment, caused partly by education which was not-job oriented, was another reason for many youth to take to crime, other mediapersons said.

The lawyer and activist, Hemalatha Mahishi, felt that broken families, the result of increasing divorces, was another reason. The three family courts in the city had a heavy load, mostly related to cases of divorce. Without proper parental guidance at a crucial age, children easily went astray, she pointed out.

C.R. Chandrashekhar, a well-known psychologist attached to NIMHANS, said rich children "pampered" by their families also took to crime, perhaps to satisfy their cravings for the good things in life. Children in nuclear families had another disadvantage; the parents had high expectations of them. Faced with parents, who constantly demanded high grades and the anticipation of the rat race ahead in a competitive world, children turned to various vices, including criminal activities.

Left unsaid is another factor that leads young persons to crime, according to many social workers and psychologists — the lure of alcohol and narcotics. In many cases of theft and robbery, the young offenders are found to be looking for money to pay for their addictions. How far society at large is responsible for this has to be pondered.

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