Most juvenile delinquents come from broken families

Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) found most of children under the age of 18 years found to have been involved in crimes in the first half of this year come from broken families. 

DJJ received cases involving 88 juvenile delinquents over the first six months of this year. 48 of the cases involved repeat offenders, while 40 were new offenders. 48 of the repeat offenders were male, while two were female. 

37 percent of the cases involve children who come from broken families. 14 percent of the cases involve children who don’t have legal father. 20 percent of the cases involve children whose parents are still together. Meanwhile, 23 percent of the cases involve children whose family situation the DJJ has not received information on. 

"Based on the first six months of this year, we found children without a legal father living a life of crime, and also found the number of children living a life of crime from families with divorced parents is high,” said the DJJ in a report. 

In contrast, most juvenile delinquents from 2011-2018 had come from families where parents live together. 

DJJ noted in its report that lack of love and attention to children due to poor family situations open room for behavioral problems to escalate, and expose children to greater risk of exploitation from adult criminals. 

61 of the cases in the first half of this year had come from atolls. However, the highest number of cases from a single city or island was from Male’ City – with 27 cases. 

The most frequent crimes among juvenile delinquents involve drug abuse, drug possession, destruction of property, and assault. Most of such crimes were carried out by males. 

The cases include two murders. 

Meanwhile, the crimes involving females include pregnancy out of wedlock, self-harm, and indecent exposure.