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Juvenile DelinquencyJuvenile Delinquency inin LatviaLatvia
Dr. Andrejs Judins,
senior researcher of the Centre for Public Policy Providus 22.10. 2010.22.10. 2010.
Criminal Law: Juveniles
• Age of criminal liability – 14
• Neither particular Juvenile Justice Law, nor Juvenile courts exist in Latvia
• Criminal Law (1998); Criminal Procedure Law (2005), provided favourable features (peculiarities) for juveniles
• Law on the Application of Compulsory Educational Measures to Children (2002)
A.Judins, SPC Providus ©
The official information on juvenile delinquency in Latvia is quite limited and evidently it reflects only part of processes related to the antisocial behaviour of children. It has objective reasons related to the following:
•the latent character of crime, including juvenile delinquency (a);
•the failure of victims to report offences that have been committed that is related to distrust in public institutions and their abilities to resolve a criminal offence and to promote the restoration of justice (b);
•the objective impossibility of resolving several offences and of identifying offenders (c);
•failure to report offences of juveniles that is related to the awareness that on the whole instruments of criminal justice do not correspond to needs of children and it would be better to protect the child against the reaction of the state to the offence that to turn the child over to criminal justice (d);
•failure to report offences committed by children, considering them to be insignificant (e).
A.Judins, SPC Providus ©
Formal approach:
Juvenile delinquency as a component of crime is a category of criminology used to the body of criminal offences committed by children at the age of 14 to 17, its trends at a specific time and in a specific territory.
What about children under 14
In 2008 - 57 475 criminal offences were registered in Latvia, while the number of criminal offences committed by juveniles amounted to 1 397.
In 2009 - 56 748 criminal offences were registered; 1 038criminal offences were committed by juveniles.
In 2008 19 216 persons were identified as offenders, i.e. 1 812 juveniles (9,4 %)
In 2009: 18 649 persons were identified as offenders, i.e. 1 383 juveniles (7,4 %)
A.Judins, SPC Providus ©
Number of juveniles and young persons (under the age of 20) in Latvia during 1990 - 2009
Number of juveniles (14-17 y.o.) in Latvia during 2005 - 2010
year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
age
0 20 249 21 522 22 343 23 640 23 349 21 865
14 34 354 31 919 30 155 25 301 22 882 20 809
15 35 151 34 293 31 828 30 006 25 367 22 804
16 36 835 35 105 34 235 31 753 30 074 25 274
17 37 829 36 774 35 034 34 133 31 734 29 957
Number of juveniles who have committed criminal
offences in 2005-2009 year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
number of juveniles
2 534 2 123 2 191 1 812 1 383
Structure of crimes committed by juveniles in 2005 -2009
A.Judins, SPC Providus ©
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Murders 11 4 2 3 2
Serious bodily injuries 11 5 7 1 2
Rape 5 5 5 2
Robberies 154 96 72 87 54
Thefts 1532 707 555 684 564including thefts from apartments 259 134 112 105 81
including thefts from trade outlets 276 66 68 133 183
including thefts from automobiles 114 35 11 41 19
including automobile thefts 119 89 69 103 63
Hooliganism 211 135 102 83 47
Convicted juveniles who committed criminal
offences in a group in 2005-2009
year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
number of convicted juveniles
1 390 1 360 1 226 1120 931
Convicted juveniles in 2009
total number of juvenilesgirls
Deprivation of liberty
Released from
punishment
Com
pulsory Educational M
easures
released from crim
inal liability
less than 1 year
1> - 3 years
3.-5 years
5 > -10 years
> 10
Conditional sentence
Fine
Unpaid w
ork
931 91 2 51 91 41 16 4 490 2 224 13 62
Juveniles in Prison
A.Judins, SPC Providus ©
149
409
241
304320
373383
438
191 199 189
53
275
948064
142
142
162
272243 239
96109127
99
162
134140134166
105158
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
year
num
ber
total detention sentenced
Source: Latvian prison administration
Legislative reform:Promising practice
• Strengthen the System of Educational Compulsory measures (2010);
• Criminal Law amendments (2009) (regarding to the deprivation of liberty), Criminal Procedure law (2005)
Article 65 of the Criminal Law
Application of Punishment for Minors(1) The following forms of basic punishment shall apply for minors:1) deprivation of liberty;2) custodial arrest;3) community service; or 4) fine,as well as the additional punishments provided for in this Law.(2) For a person who has committed a criminal offence before reaching 18
years of age, the period of deprivation of liberty may not exceed: 10 years - for especially serious crimes; 5 years - for serious crimes, which are associated with violence or the threat of violence, or have given rise to serious consequences; 2 years – for other serious crimes. For criminal violations and for less serious and serious crimes the penalty of deprivation of liberty shall not be applied for such person.
Deprivation of liberty as a punishment for juvenile offenders
Maximum term of the deprivation of liberty
Type of offence ADULTS JUVENILES
Criminal violation 2 Not applicable
Less serious crime (through negligence)
10 Not applicable
Less serious crime (deliberately)
5 Not applicable
Serious crime (through negligence)
20 2
Serious crime (deliberately) 10 2 or 5 (if crime was associated with violence or the threat of violence, or had given rise to serious consequences)
Especially serious crime 20 or Life sentence
10
Compulsory Educational Measures• a warning;• the obligation to apologize to victims if the
latter agree to meet the perpetrator;• to transfer the child to the warranty of parents
or guardians or other persons, institutions or organisations;
• to impose the obligation to eliminate consequences of the damage incurred by his her work;
• as concerns a child who has reached the age of 15 and who has his/her income – to impose the obligation to compensate for the incurred damage;
• to impose the obligation to perform community service;
• to place the child in an educational institution of social correction
Children from 11 to 13 years of age
Children from 14 to 17 years of age
Promising practice
Unpaid work (Community Service):
as a Criminal Punishment
and
as a Compulsory Educational Measure
Conciliation as an instrument for Justice Restoration (VOM, Conferencing (2009)
Promising practice
Programs of social behaviour and rehabilitation
State Probation Service
(2004)
