Thursday 19 / September / 2024
Muscat: Parents in Oman need to very watchful to help curb juvenile delinquency, and while juvenile crimes have registered a slight decrease, the issue remains a major concern for the society as a whole, said an expert dealing with the subject.
Juvenile criminal activity is often associated with psychological factors that trigger negative behaviour, with the living environment and parents topping the list of reasons, according to the Founder of Whispers Serenity and Psychotherapist, Her Highness Sayyida Basma Al Said.
According to a publication issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) on January 18, entitled, “Our Children: A Statistical Vision,” crimes committed by juveniles decreased by 42.4 per cent in 2014, compared with 2010. 97 per cent these juveniles in 2014 were male.
There were 259 juvenile crimes reported in 2014, reflecting a nearly 58 per cent drop from 450 in 2010. A total 252 were male and 7 were female in 2014, compared with 435 males and 15 females.
The term ‘juvenile’ only applies to children aged between nine and 17 years, where if crimes were committed according to the Oman Penal Code, adult punishment will not be applied, but rehabilitation and consultation.
Al Said stated that the environment in which the children live can contribute to them becoming juvenile criminals assuming it is negative. Where they grew up and how they grew up, as well as methods used to raise them, could affect the child, including the physical environment of the house they lived in.
Children follow their parents’ actions that can influence a child to behave criminally, such as being abusive to each other, abusing drugs and/or alcohol or their parents being divorced.
Difficult economic situations are also a trigger where the family does not get much income and the child then develops a habit of thievery.
Children are also often at the receiving end of physical abuse, which tempts them to become violent and mischievous enough to break the law.
“Usually when children get abused, they become abusers. They sometimes become bullies or worse,” she stated.
She also stressed that children absorb the information they see depending on their environment and enact them during their daily life. “For example, in a nursery you can see a little child beating the other and you think he’s just a little kid, how and why does he do it? It is because of what he sees at home and doesn’t know how to express his feelings,” she explained.
Al Said added, “As they grow into their teens, they become very angry inside. Some teens can deal with it and others cannot; so they find themselves in trouble most of the time, taking drugs and stealing.” She also added that some juveniles have been living in good conditions but commit such criminal acts to seek attention.
“When they don’t get the attention they need from their parents and their parents are always out or at work, they easily fall into this as a way to seek attention,” Al Said noted. Robbery cases are the most common among the juveniles and have decreased to 47.5 per cent of the total percentage of crimes in 2014, compared with 56.4 percent in 2010. Inflicting harm followed with 38.2 per cent, drug abuse with 8.5 per cent and other crimes with 5.8 per cent.
According to NCSI, about a quarter of all crimes against individuals were committed in North Al Batinah, while Muscat led with most indirect crimes (drug abuse), pegged at 59 per cent.
The Royal Oman Police (ROP) said that when an official receives a report about a juvenile, he acts according to the Juvenile Accountability Act, which was promulgated by Royal Decree 30/2008. According to the law, if a juvenile is caught, they should be referred back to their parents, guardian, relative or foster parent that can take care of the child or in worst case scenarios, to Juvenile Care Centres.
Scolding the child and preventing him or her from going to a specific place or preventing them from breaking the law by making them work on something. “We need to understand why this is happening. There must be something, it can’t happen without a reason,” Al Said stated, adding that parents and children need to talk to one another to get to the root of the problem and solve it.
When asked for advice on how parents should deal with their children before they develop a criminal nature, Al Said explained that she receives parents and out-of-control children at her clinic, “We sit with the parents and child separately (and listen to their story), then we’ll analyse the child through tests and work with him and tell the parents how to deal with the child. It’s a process.”
