Juvenile delinquency is highest in the districts of Beja, Portalegre and Guarda, while group crime stands out in Faro, Beja and Lisbon. The data comes from the final report of the Commission for the Integrated Analysis of Juvenile Delinquency and Violent Crime.
Juvenile delinquency numbers in 2023 reached the highest values since 2015, while group crime has not been as high since 2013.
According to this document, the police identified, in the first 10 months of last year, 64 children under the age of 12 suspected of being part of criminal groups, a number that has been increasing since 2019.
The Commission's report also indicates that the GNR identified, until October last year, 55 children under the age of 12 suspected of being involved in criminal groups, while the number of children between the ages of six and 11 identified by the PSP in the same period it was nine.
In total, the two security forces identified 64 children under six years of age suspected in incidents of group crime until October 2023, while in the entire year 2022, 29 were identified, in 2021 there were 46, in 2020 there were 28 and in 2019 there were a total of 38.
The document states that last year the PSP and GNR identified almost 2.500 young people up to the age of 20 involved in criminal groups.
Created in June 2022 by the former Minister of Internal Administration José Luís Carneiro, due to the increase in juvenile crime and group crime, the commission, whose main objective was to study the phenomenon and present proposals for its reduction, is now publishing the third and latest report.
The document, published on the website of the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, also indicates that in 2023, 1.840 incidents of juvenile delinquency were recorded by the security forces, which corresponds to an increase of 8,2% compared to 2022 In the case of the GNR, registered juvenile delinquency increased by 9,6% and in the PSP by 6,2%.
According to the report, the two police forces recorded 6.757 incidents of group crime last year, an increase of 14,8% compared to 2022.
“It appears that this increase was more significant in the GNR (+38,3%) compared to that seen in the PSP (+1,5%), as had already happened when the full year of 2022 was analyzed in contrast to the year 2019”, writes the commission that was coordinated by the former Secretary of State for Internal Administration Isabel Oneto.
This commission's main mission was to characterize the reality of juvenile delinquency and violent crime, analyzing the main international trends and making recommendations to reduce this phenomenon.
In the final report, the commission proposes 16 new recommendations, for a total of 75 recommendations and lines of action formulated throughout the work.
Among the recommendations now proposed is the “strengthening of programs, initiatives and campaigns aimed at promoting the rational use of screens” and “strengthening the capacity for detection, signaling and intervention at the level of children and young people at risk” in a school context.
Composed of 14 members, the commission had a multidisciplinary character and integrated the government areas of Internal Administration, Justice, Education, Labor, Solidarity and Social Security and Health.
The last of the commission's three reports was published yesterday in Diário da República.
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