JUVENILES are involved in most of the burglary cases on the island, according to a supervisor of the Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigation Bureau-Juvenile Crimes and Delinquency Investigation Section.
“In four out of every five burglaries that are committed, at least one juvenile is involved,” Police Sgt. James C. Deleon Guerrero disclosed.
Deleon Guerrero said based on their investigation and experience for the last two years, some children may not be directly involved, but they are “used” by adults to commit burglaries.
During March 2001, 101 juveniles were arrested for various crimes.
“Most of them were arrested for truancy, the kids that don’t go to school, they ended up going somewhere else. The school authorities would report to us and we were able to find them,” Deleon Guerrero said.
He said several of the arrested juveniles were also involved in school riots and other school-related fights.
According to Deleon Guerrero, the Juvenile Crimes Enforcement Task Force is developing a program geared toward rehabilitating these juveniles and not incarcerating them.
“The ultimate goal is not to incarcerate the kids but to send them to rehab and assess the effectiveness of that program. We can see where we need to improve further so that we have lower rate of repeat offenders coming back into the system,” he said.
James DLG. Ada of the Division of Youth Services told reporters that the 2001 figures were the all-time high during the past six years.
Ada said in that year, 483 juveniles were apprehended by DPS for various crimes, including minor consuming alcohol and burglary.
One of DYS’s programs is the juvenile diversion program, a project involving the Attorney General’s Office and the Juvenile Probation Unit designed for first time offenders, Ada said.
“Juveniles come in and admit to the offense, and we have a set of conditions that they have to follow under the three-month program. After three months and they complete the conditions, then the Probation Unit will send a referral to AGO, informing it that they had completed the program,” he added.
Police recently rounded up 11 juveniles for curfew and probation violations.
