Juvenile deliquency

According to Yusuf Agametov, chief of Volgograd centre of “temporary isolation” for young criminals, a 13-year-old boy once asked him: “And who did win a victory in the war – the Soviet Union or Germany?” Vogograd region could be regarded as an average Russian region, where outburst of teenage criminal is cause by seduction of children on state level, which took place within recent ten years. The consequences of this seduction are terrible. They become apparent already in kindergarten. For example in a kindergarten of Krasnoyarsk district, the city of Volgograd, children, while playing war, caught one of their “enemies” and started to really torture him, and finally decided to hang him. Fortunately, adults were in time. 14-year-old boys from a Volgograd secondary school regularly came to lyceum N 8 with racketeering aims – to rob “rich children” of money. Actually, so-called “ideological” base is one of the future racketeers’ motives. In another district of Volgograd, two teenager penetrated into a private school and stole TV set and video equipment. While being detained, they said that “the private school” was not threatened with poverty. One shocking event took place in a farm of Kumylzhensky district. A girl, together with her boyfriend, killed her great-grandparents: she pressed the cock of a hunter’s gun with her own hand, while firing at her great-grandmother. Among things the robbers took away were two rifles, icons, a bag of fuzz and war medals of the great-grandfather. Sometimes, teenagers even become repeater murderers. A 13-year-old boy from the town Volzhsk killed a little baby and just afterwards committed one more murder. He was not imprisoned, because the only special school for young criminals was overfilled. Recently, a trial of young criminals’ band took place in Volgograd region: in 1999, the young criminals committed over 10 murders and almost 40 other crimes. Under different pretexts, they stopped cars on a highway, killed drivers, stole cars. They killed their victims while bursting into houses and sometimes even without finding any values. For example, they murdered two old women they had three times robbed before it, while literally tearing them into pieces during their last visit. Of 600,000 teenagers living in the region, 11,000 are on the books of the police, while 700 have been already sentenced for different crimes. Specialists state that children’s brutality is being spread with a high speed. Now, adults cannot influence children with words. “Even 10 years ago, children’s actions could be predicted, while now they cannot be controlled,” – Yusuf Agametov supposes. He is right while accusing mass media: “Psychologists are of opinion that if one constantly switches over 20 Moscow TV channels, one will run against a violence scene every 6 minutes (the question is about prime time, before 18.00, while after 18.00 –every 3 minutes). Though such children’s brutality is typical also for other Russian regions. In the city of Vladivostok, several girls unmercifully beat their class-mate just for fun. In the city of Tumen, four teenagers beat to death parents of one of them, because the adults had not admitted them to play computer games in night time. Whey the teenagers were carrying them to bath, the son suddenly found out they were alive and killed them to death with his own hand. Afterwards, he went to play computer games. In secondary schools, pupils beat their teachers. In a school of Tula region, it is usual for pupils to push a teacher, to throw a stone at him, to kick him. Though this brutality is flourishing not without parents’ influence. For example, a pupil’s mother warned the director about the school being ruined by bandits, if the child is not moved up into the next class. What else could be expected from such children, if parents are almost bandits, when family has no authority, when there are classes in schools where almost all children’s parents are divorced? Such children, if even they achieve life success, often say they spit upon Russia. They suppose their country has given nothing to them. It cannot be said that local authorities are inactive and only wait for children themselves become better. There are two social orphanages in Volgograd. Some teaching and educational institutions are being prepared for opening. In the city of Volzhsky and in Krasnoyarsk district of Volgograd military schools have been opened, where children will be educated according to traditional ethic norms. In Volgograd secondary schools, city programme of patriotic upbringing is being introduced, Orthodox culture is being studied as optional subject. The result of recent 10 years is sad. Russian people have not become more free personalities, while they became more egoistic. What expects our society in the nearest future could be observed now in Western education. In a secondary school of Michigan, 6-year-old boy brought a pistol to the lesson and killed his class-mate before very eyes of the whole class and of the teacher. And what do you think US citizens discussed after the incident? They were united in necessity to install a metal detector in the school entrance. Events of the kind have mass character in the USA. Actually, this makes think that Western education system based on ideals of a person’s rights results in unruliness of this same person that supposes interrelation issues could be solved only with force. National peculiarities of Americans are obvious. To protect their children from noxious influence of school, US parents unit and have already created the whole system of home education. Should we repeat the way of tears, the West has gone in this sphere? Fortunately, we do not have mass children and teachers’ murders in schools yet. Though, this next step is inevitable, if we do not stop in time in our emancipation. Soviet time of Russian history is significant with the fact that there were no social motives in crimes. People were brought up in system of moral values: do not steal, respect elders, be chaste. Moral Code of Communism’s Builder was very similar to Jesus Christ’s commandments. About 10 years ago, all moral guiding lines were officially abolished, while social life became worse. Today, thank Heavens, central authorities together with the Church seem bethought and started to restore what was ruined. Recently, after Putin’s initiative, the government decided to take the issue of homeless children under its control. Though this issue cannot be solved only through building new orphanages. It is necessary to review today’s spiritual values. All the more, that Russia has a 1000-year experience in bringing up person feeling responsible before his neighbour and his motherland.

Andrei Cherkasov PRAVDA.Ru Volgograd

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/03/06/37957.html