« Criminalités des mineurs : cas d’Antananarivo et d’Antsiranana »

Juvenile crime refers to all criminal and anti-social acts committed by children under the age of 18 that fall within the scope of criminal law. Children are vulnerable and require special protection, even if they are in conflict with the law. A child who is properly educated and aware of his or her responsibilities is the guarantee of a future and sustainable development for the country. In Madagascar, juvenile delinquency is on the increase despite the establishment of international and national child protection standards. It is worrying to note that juvenile delinquents are contributing to the chaos in which Madagascar finds itself in terms of violence and insecurity. In traditional families, every child « Menakynyaina » was always accepted, protected and cared for, even if the nuclear family broke up. So, juvenile delinquency was almost non-existent. Over the years, society has changed and poverty has taken its toll. The large traditional families have broken up and the marital situation being in crisis, leaving the child unprotected. This lack of supervision and the ineffectiveness of child protection and juvenile delinquency standards have resulted in the unprotected child becoming a criminal. The offences most frequently committed by children in conflict with the law are theft (simple theft, pickpocketing or theft from an employer), rape of minors or adults, and violence and assault. The most common causes of juvenile delinquency, cited by educators and monitors in charge of minors in re-education centres and juvenile wards in prisons, are poverty, poor education, child labour, and family abuse/violence. In the commission of a criminal offence, minors benefit from reduced liability. Minors under the age of 13 benefit from an irrebuttable presumption of irresponsibility. They can never be sentenced to imprisonment. For other minors (aged 13 to 18), if they are guilty, the penalty may not exceed half of the sentence they would have received if they had reached the age of majority. In all cases, educational measures may be taken instead of prison sentences. By committing crimes, minors are partly responsible for the widespread insecurity in the country. However, the insecurity and chaos we are currently experiencing are nothing compared to what awaits us in a few years, if our children, who are « the future of the country », remain uneducated, illiterate, without decent jobs and with only one objective for survival: to create chaos.

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04/09/2024