Teenage boys as violent actors in today's Romanian Communities

Contents - SEMINAR : Men and Violence Against Women
COE - Strasbourg, 7-8 October 1999

Teenage boys as violent actors in today's Romanian Communities

Ms Anca DUMITRESCU and Ms Elena PENTELEICIUC, Romania

International Children's Day, traditionally celebrated in Romania by formal declarations from the state authorities, also has hidden connotations; connotations which are not all rosy for the politicians, and not at all comfortable for those responsible for the health and future of the children of Romania. These bleak issues were revealed by a non-governmental organisation which promoted an incisive campaign to let civil society know about the drama of children in Romania. The "Save the Children" organisation (SCO) troubled, for a few days, the ignorance of most of us. SCO launched, in 1999, a really national campaign for uncovering infringements of children's rights, so that their voices should be heard and respected in Romania.

The President of "Save the Children", Mr Gh Mazalu, presented the 1998 activity report to civil society dealing with an event which was likely to pass quite unnoticed in Romania: "1999 has a special meaning to us - the celebration of a decade since the adoption of the Convention of Children's Rights by the General Assembly of the United Nations, a document that has the value of a universal law". Indeed, on 20 November 1989, the UN proposed the entire world this kind of convention. Romania was among the first countries in the world to sign it, on 28 September 1990. Then, over 190 countries of the world became potential beneficiaries of this Convention's promises.

The 1998-1999 SCO report reveals "the social pictures" that outline the image of the Romanian child in the post-communist society, in the eyes of international organisations. "The situation of children and families with children in Romania has suffered a process of erosion. Against the background of the growth in the poverty rate, children represent an extremely vulnerable social category. The number of abandoned children has risen, many families cannot afford to send their children to school; tuberculosis, anaemia and hepatitis affect children more and more frequently and juvenile delinquency is on the increase".

According to this report by the newspaper "Adevarul Economic" from June 1999, ten percent of today's delinquents in our country are children and teenagers. A worrying aspect, indeed, with causes deeply rooted in the family context and the socio-economic factors of the transition underway. In this respect, we consider it relevant to point out the fact that among the basic models of family education (Becker, W. C, 1964), the following models can bring about deviated, violent reactions in children's behaviour, especially when they undergo the teenage changes at the levels of physical, emotional and inter-human relations.

THE MODEL OF LIBERAL EDUCATION

The parents advocating this educative model stimulate their child's autonomy, and independence, assuring the possibility of his/her self-achievement, without moulding the child in the spirit of following educational requirements. Such a child becomes self-centered, willing to be a leader; but his self-control is rather weak and he longs for success and popularity at all cost, possibly breaking rules of behaviour.

THE MODEL OF AUTHORITATIVE EDUCATION

This educational type is autocratic. In most cases, the parents frighten their children rather than motivate them. Such a manner of motivation cannot be accepted, because in this behaviour the values are not built up as a synthesis of the cognitive-affective motivational dimensions, but on the contrary, by excluding them. Therefore, teenagers who have been brought up with this educational background become aggressive.

THE MODEL OF EDUCATION LACKING HARMONY

This is a style of cold, closed education, lacking many motivational dimensions. These parents are, in fact, deviated personalities, with a low emotional, intellectual and moral level. They are neurotic, brutalising the child, humiliating him/her, without stimulating personality development. Thus, the child or teenager living in such families becomes neurotic, ego-centered, aggressive. Instead of self-control, only pathological forms of hatred occur, often degenerating into violence.

The increasing number of teenage boys involved in violent acts, some of which are made known by the mass media, originate from such educational backgrounds or from broken families. Many are parentless. The SCO report has mentioned that there are approximately 2000 homeless children (61% in Bucharest, 17% in Constanta and the rest spread in other towns).

Poverty, mental depression, the lack of basic living resources and social protection push the young boys to committing offences. They can act individually or in groups. They can be the initiators of violent acts, or the tool manipulated by adult evil-doers.

According to the surveys of the General Police Inspectorate and the Institute for Criminal Investigations and Prevention, in the last few years there has been an increasing incidence of robbery and violent assaults on elderly people, especially single women in towns and villages. The Penal Code specifies the educative measures taken against these under-age criminals:

Reprimand;
Watched liberty;
Confinement in re-education centres;
Confinement in a medical-educative institute.

Now we would like to make some references to the Special School of Re-Education with Detention in Gaiesti (Arges County). It was established by the Ministry of Domestic Affairs for correcting the behaviour of the young boys committing various types of offences, ranging from food theft to rape and other violent assaults.

This is a close-circuit school, where together with the 14-18 year old teenagers who represent the majority of pupils, there are also younger boys of 8-14 who have run away from their poor, broken families, children's homes or protective NGOs, who have lived in the streets stealing, becoming more and more aggressive until being caught red-handed. Within this re-educative centre, the boys can have a very modest life style, due to the lack of funds, and some school training too, in groups of 15 pupils helped by a pedagogue, who accompanies them also in the few outside activities. It is the pedagogue's task to write regular reports about each boy's behavioural improvement. The psycho-therapy and correction results are rather poor in this school which has low financial means, too few educators and the bad influence of teenage boys on the smaller boys they live with.

We also have to point out the fact that this year, the first research project on "Distance Education for the Young People in Romanian Penitentiaries" has been appreciated in Caracas Competition on high risk areas worldwide. This complex project has initially been focused on 2 lots of 50 convicts: the first being made up of 50 young men from Rahova Prison (Bucharest); the second involves 50 young women from the 100 year-old prison for women in Targsor (Ploiesti), which has been partially modernised lately.

These convicts' instructions include 3 modules (vocational training, civic education, sanitary education), lasting 3 months. The certificate of achievement given at the end can help the prisoners find a new job, when leaving detention.

APPENDIX

Five times more juvenile delinquents in 1998 compared to 1990

Statistics produced by the psychologists of the Institute of Forensic Medicine say that we have five times more juvenile delinquents in 1998 than in 1990. The following numbers, dry and cold, are meant to help us understand better what makes children become criminals.

Sixty-eight percent of juvenile delinquents are 14-16 years old, the period estimated as the most critical in the socialisation process. Sixty-four percent do not go to school, either because they have dropped out, or because they didn't want to continue after they graduated four or eight grades. The overwhelming majority of the delinquents have lost one or both parents, or come from broken homes. To this, adjustment problems are added, because most of the criminals in Bucarest came here when they were teenagers, from villages and communes close to the city (11%) or from other parts of the country (54%). Equally the families they come from have a low education level (5.5% of the fathers and 9.9% of the mothers have never attended school, and 50.5% of the fathers and 64% of the mothers have fourth to eighth grade education. In 75% of cases, the parents are workers. In any case, 75% of the fathers and 68% of the mothers consume alcohol frequently. The result is easy to foresee, more than half of the minors who commit crimes have been beaten by one of their parents.

In their turn, living conditions are far from ideal. More than half of the juvenile delinquents have lived in an apartment block, occupied by over 1.5 persons per room. The incomes are, in 60% of cases, under $50 per family member, and 8% have no income at all. The interesting thing is that 10% of the minors who commit crimes come from families with above-average incomes, based on the principle that "abundance of things engenders disdainfulness". And, because crimes can only be committed in one's own time, it is important to mention that over 70% of the minors are not supervised at all or are only supervised for between three and six hours a day.

One of the prejudices that makes the law in this field is that most criminals are gypsies. This could be easy to prove, just by watching a rehabilitation school. But things are totally different: of those studied by the Forensic Medicine Institute (IML), almost 70% were Romanian. Fifteen percent stated they were Romanianised gypsies, and only 14% were Romany. As far as their "ways" are concerned, 5% regularly use drugs, 35% drink alcohol frequently and over 80% are smokers. Their crimes, although thefts for the most part, include violent aspects too: in groups of 3-4 persons (an organisation known as the "street corner society", the minors have committed murder, attempted murder or bodily injury (3.5% of the total number of crimes), rape, attempted rape and robbery (10.8% of the total). Of the total number of juvenile delinquents, 81% have a low level of intelligence, a very low level of intelligence, or minimal intellect. Specialised studies also reveal other important psychological dimensions: acute lack of tenderness, need for revenge, intolerance, tendency to lie, fear of punishment, the desire to put up a show, feelings of abandonment, renunciation or loneliness. To these are to be added acute depression, frustrations caused by poverty, the fear of parents, etc.

Contents - SEMINAR : Men and Violence Against Women
COE - Strasbourg, 7-8 October 1999