JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Mr Zulkifli bin Baharudin asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether juvenile delinquency is a serious or growing problem in Singapore; (b) what are the trends in recent years; and (c) whether there are particular juvenile problems that require the attention of families, Government and society in general.

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Sir, the number of juvenile offenders arrested rose steadily from 1,205 in 1990 to 2,574 in 1995 before falling to 2,110 in 1996. Last year, the situation stabilised, with the number of juvenile offenders arrested rising only slightly by 37 to 2,147. In the first six months of this year, 1,028 juvenile offenders were arrested, which was a slight 1.5% increase over the corresponding period last year.

Juvenile delinquents commit mainly property-related offences such as shoplifting and theft, and gang-related offences such as rioting and unlawful assembly. The increase in the total number of juvenile offenders in 1997 and the first six months of 1998 is mainly due to more juveniles arrested for shoplifting and other property-related offences.

Juvenile delinquency is a multi-faceted problem. The reasons why a juvenile turns to crime are diverse and complex in nature. Studies on juvenile problems have shown that the reasons for juvenile delinquency include ineffective parenting, parental neglect, boredom, undesirable peer influence, greed, the desire to do the unconventional, or a combination of these factors. We have not detected specific juvenile problems that need to be urgently addressed so far.

Only with more information can Government, families and the society in general be able to target specific groups of juveniles that need assistance most. This is being looked into. MCD is chairing an Inter-Agency Work Group, which has been set up to develop a centralised inter-agency database on juvenile pre-delinquents and delinquents. This database will facilitate the monitoring of juvenile delinquency trends. It will also help to highlight specific juvenile problems. In addition, the Inter-Ministry Committee on Juvenile Delinquency (IMJD) has also commissioned a study on juvenile delinquency, which is expected to be completed by year-end. This study will also provide further insights on why juveniles turn delinquent.

Mr Zulkifli bin Baharudin: There seems to be a worrying trend towards a more violent behaviour amongst our youths, such as rioting, gangsterism and street fights. I would like to ask the Minister how serious is this, and whether we are meting more severe punishments towards these offenders.

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: The courts have taken a tough stand, particularly against this area of teens fighting and rioting. As I have indicated in my speech, the problem of rioting has been there for some time. It was contained last year. In fact, in the first six months of this year, as I have indicated, the total number of offenders has been about the same, but the number of offenders caught for shop-lifting and other property-related offences has gone up much more. So the early indications in the first six months of this year are quite positive. The other matter is that when we talk about juvenile delinquency, we are talking about the under-16s. Of course, we know that youths above 16s also fight. They are the youths. What we have to look at is a more composite picture. So IMJD will do that, and not just address the problem from the juvenile delinquents' point of view, but even those above 16.

Dr Lee Tsao Yuan: The Minister of State cited figures for juvenile offenders. In the Minister of State's assessment, is this merely the tip of the iceberg? In other words, is there an increase in terms of youth joining youth gangs? Is there an increase in ill-discipline in schools, for instance? To what extent are these figures on juvenile offenders which give us no cause for concern really just something which may not be indicative of a general trend as a whole?

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Youths go through phases in their lives. At a certain age, when they are probably in secondary 1, secondary 2, secondary 3, I think they are looking for excitement. They are very easily influenced by peers. So what is important, as I have said in my answer, is the parenting effect. The key point which we would have to emphasise continually and work with the CDCs and other VWOs is to help parents understand what their teens are going through. The important thing is that whilst the teens undergo through this phase, which I think all teens will go through, they should not fall beyond the abyss. They may do naughty things but they should not do anything which is so serious that will lend them in jail or put them in violation of the law. As I have said in my answer, it is a multi-faceted problem. Fighting is something that has emerged, but it has been contained. I would say that we must continue to press on, bringing everybody on board to tackle the problem.