CRIMES AGAINST MINORS PRIMARILY COMMITTED BY ADULTS, SAYS POLICE COLONEL
Tert
Nov 20 2009
Armenia
During 10 months of this year, 7,222 criminal offences have been
registered in Armenia — compared to 5,480 for the same period last
year, announced Head of Department of Criminal Investigations of RA
Police, Colonel Hovik Tamamyan.
At a press conference today, Tamamyan presented the complete picture
of crimes registered in Armenia by and against minors during a 10-month
period in 2009: during that time, 383 crimes were committed by minors,
which is 18 more cases than in the previous year. Out of this total,
96 crimes were committed by 14-15 year-olds, while 276 were committed
by 16-17 year-olds.
Out of the total criminal offences, 23 were committed by young women, 4
were committed by youth under the influence of alcohol, and 1 committed
by a juvenile under the influence of drugs. The majority of crimes were
committed by youth with varying occupations; excluding 24 delinquents
who were students. In any case, none of the crimes committed by youth
were murder cases. Tamamyan, speaking on the reasons for the crimes,
mentioned an noteworthy fact: according to the colonel, crimes against
juveniles were primarily committed by adults.
The picture of crimes committed against minors is not a pretty one.
During the current year, 155 crimes have been committed against
juveniles, 2 of which were murders, 2 were deaths caused by
carelessness, 3 resulted in suicides, 3 physical assaults, 4 sexual
assaults, and 25 sexual violations. What is distressing to note is
that the crimes committed by youth are nothing compared to those
committed by adults against youth.
And the icing on the cake? Today marks the 20th anniversary of the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Armenia adopted in 1993.