Juvenile delinquency in the 1960s and the activities of the militia to prevent it

Abstract

The article examines the dynamics of juvenile delinquency in the 1960s and the main measures taken by the militia to counteract delinquency of children and adolescents. The state of juvenile delinquency in this period, which tended to increase, is characterised. The main forms and methods used by the militia to counteract this phenomenon are revealed. For this purpose, militia children’s rooms were organised, and public activists were involved in working with “difficult” adolescents. Their activities were based on preventive measures to prevent child neglect and work directly with children and adolescents detained for various offences. Responsibility for organising the fight against child neglect and juvenile delinquency was vested directly in the heads of city, district and line militia bodiesThis meant that this issue was given considerable importance. At the same time, militia children's rooms were directly subordinated to the criminal investigation units. This was due to the growth of juvenile delinquency and the need to counteract it more actively. The intensification of the activities of commissions on juvenile affairs, as stated in the policy documents of the authorities of the time, was also supposed to contribute to this work. Inspectors of the children’s room of the militia were obliged to organise and carry out preventive measures to prevent child neglect, juvenile delinquency and violations of the rules of conduct on the streets and in public places in order to prevent accidents with children, victims of road accidents, fires from fire pranks, crimes and anti-social behaviour by children and adolescents themselves in the territory served. The presence of a large number of crimes committed by juveniles indicated significant shortcomings in the militia's activities in this area, but the objective root cause of such phenomena was the social conditions of life in the USSR.