Youth are easy targets to use to commit crime

MANY seasoned criminals make use of the youth to commit violent crimes because they are easily influenced.

This is according the SA National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders (Nicro) following Justice Minister Ronald Lamola's revelation that 12 542 people between 16 and 25 years old are in prison, with 2 453 serving time for murder.

In a written parliamentary question, EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi asked Lamola to provide details of the total number of people between the ages of 16 and 25 incarcerated in correctional services facilities and the number of the specified persons convicted for murder and grievous bodily harm.

Lamola's figures indicate that the youth of the Western Cape lead the pack with 3 320 inmates. This is followed by the Eastern Cape at 2 238. A combined figure for the Free State and Northern Cape shows that 2 219 youth are behind bars. Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West have a combined figure of 1 776, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 1 763 and Gauteng at 1 226.

The Western Cape again takes the lead with the highest number of murders at 616 and grievous bodily harm at 193. Figures for the Eastern Cape show that 440 youngsters are behind bars for murder and 153 for grievous bodily harm. Northern Cape and the Free State have a combined murder figure of 430 and grievous bodily harm at 130, while KZN's murder figure stands at 402 and 61 for grievous bodily harm.

Murder stats for Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West indicate a combined figure of 347, while Gauteng's number stands at 218.

Commenting on the figures, Nicro chief executive Betzi Pierce said youth within this age group were in the developmental stage whereby their actions tend to be based on need and their impulse control was not yet fully developed.

She said they do not always think of the consequences of their actions. According to Pierce, their brains are unlikely to have developed enough to act on sophisticated criminality. “Youth in South African communities are faced with risk factors such as low income, unemployment, low school attachment, dangerous living conditions, inappropriate rolemodelling, and the list goes on. The risk factors seem infinite and not only limited to gangsterism.

“They are also more easily influenced. Many seasoned criminals make use of the youth to commit violent crimes. The youth do not have skills needed to protect themselves from these seasoned criminals,” Pierce said.