GEIS-新闻详情

More youth involved in drug abuse and sexual offences even as juvenile crime rate falls 43%

2021-09-09 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE - The number of young offenders in Singapore fell by 43 per cent over the past decade, though more of them are now involved in drug abuse and sexual offences.

A new report on youth delinquency has found that the number of young drug abusers rose by 10 per cent between 2016 and 2020, while sexual offences, such as outrage of modesty and rape, committed by youth rose by 49 per cent in the same period.

First-time drug abusers accounted for 75 per cent of young drug abuse arrests, while the number of repeat young drug abusers more than doubled between 2016 and 2020.

The overall number of young offenders has fallen in the last decade from over 4,000 in 2010 to 2,400 last year.

The report, on offenders below the age of 18, was released at a virtual symposium held on Thursday (Sept 9) by the National Committee on Prevention, Rehabilitation and Recidivism (NCPR). Set up in 2018, the NCPR collaborates with government agencies, community organisations and volunteers to address offending and re-offending issues.

Over 1,000 participants, including school leaders, teachers, social and youth workers and law enforcement officers, attended the event for a dialogue on better supporting youth at risk and young offenders.

During his opening address at the event, Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development Eric Chua noted the rise in substance abuse and sexual offence cases in the last five years and the worrying risks associated with exposure to pornography and addiction as children start to access the Internet at a younger age.

"While we cannot fully prevent our young ones from being exposed to pornographic material, we need to have open conversations with them on these topics, to educate and prepare them to interact appropriately with such materials that they may come into contact with. This is something that requires collective effort from all of us - as parents, caregivers, mentors and authority figures," Mr Chua said.

"While we continue to monitor these trends and identify emerging areas of work, we know that numbers do not completely reflect the diversity of circumstances that our youth face."

The top three most common crimes committed by youth in the last five years were shop theft, cheating and related offences, and sexual penetration offences, a trend which has remained consistent since 2014.

The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said the falling youth offending rate could be due to initiatives such as early intervention for youth in schools and the community, data-sharing between government agencies to better support youth in need and programmes which keep youth who commit minor offences out of the court system.

The report also outlined recent changes and pilot programmes to help at-risk youth and young offenders.

School-based pupil care centres were set up in all 186 primary schools last year, providing a safe and structured after-school environment to those in need.

The Singapore Police Force piloted a revamped programme from January to June this year in seven primary schools, raising awareness of policing work and educating pupils on crime prevention. The programme will be rolled out to all primary schools in January next year.

At the tertiary level, MSF plans to launch a pilot programme by the end of the year offering mentoring to students who leave the Institute of Technical Education prematurely.