THE NUMBER of young children involved in criminal offences is increasing every year, chairman of the House Legal affairs Committee Ionas Nicolaou said yesterday.

The DISY deputy highlighted that 680 minors aged between seven and 13 had been involved in criminal acts, including theft, arson, destruction of property and beatings, in the last five years. According to police statistics, over 2,000 criminal offences were recorded in the same period involving minors aged between 14 and 18.

Nicolaou said that between 2004 and 2008, crimes in which minors participated had multiplied by three and a half times, while 2009 saw a small reduction. The committee chairman put the increase in juvenile delinquency down to a “lack of legislation or strategy to regulate all these issues”, adding that this absence of regulation will lead to more children getting involved in crime.

“From the research undertaken, it seems the majority of the children involved in criminal activities are not children of divorced parents as some wanted to say, nor children who stay in rural areas or refugee estates.

“Many of these children stay with their parents. Many stay in the cities, and unfortunately the majority are boys,” he said.

Parliament is currently studying new legislation to deal with the problems of juvenile delinquency. Cyprus does not have juvenile courts to deal with minors who commit offences.