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By Tshego Lepule 
3h ago
Cape Town – More than 2,300 children found themselves in conflict with the law in the Western Cape with the youngest group of 33 10-year-olds.
This emerged from Minister Bheki Cele’s quarterly crime statistics released on Friday.
While the majority of crimes committed by children decreased, attempted sexual crimes increased by 7%, while sexual contact crimes increased by 300%.
Up to 604 incidents of rape against children were reported, which was also lower than the 727 figure last year.
From July to September, 152 murders were committed by children, representing a 29% decrease compared to the same period last year.
Vehicle thefts, however, registered an increase of 11%, as did thefts outside or from a motor vehicle.
In the Western Cape, 2,349 children between the ages of 10 and 17 found themselves on the wrong side of the law.
In just three months, up to 790 17-year-olds and 530 16-year-olds were charged with crimes.
Betzi Pierce of the National Institute for Crime Prevention and Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO) in South Africa said that the environment in which children grow up influences their behavior.
“Children often become involved in crime based on a number of factors, their environment and the situation in the home, with the family unit and its stability being the factors that contribute the most. Domestic violence, neglect and child abuse is what we see as a factor present when we evaluate children, ”he said.
“And if a child grows up in an environment where gang life abounds and that child does not have a solid foundation at home, the chance that they will become involved in gang life is much higher.
“Right now we are orienting our programs towards levels of prevention after we realized that there is a problem with the number of cases that some provincial social development departments refer to us for the intervention of children involved in crimes.
“For this reason, we are working to identify children who are at risk of falling into a life of crime and we provide intervention programs,” he added.
Although not mentioned in this quarter’s crime statistics, murders of children continue to persist in numerous communities around the province, particularly those caught in gang cross fires.
On Tuesday, a 3-year-old boy was hit by a stray bullet near his home in Scottsdene, in Kraaifontein, and the week before, a 9-year-old boy was shot and killed after being caught in an alleged gang crossfire in Wallacedene. .
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