Teen violence recorded in videos is shocking: quarantine has brought changes

Mindaugas Akelaitis, head of the Public Police Board of the Police Department, says the teens who assaulted their peers and filmed everything are determined, and if the allegations are upheld, they will be brought to justice. The police have already launched a pre-trial investigation.

However, he said, even though videos are becoming more widespread, it should not be assumed that the problem of teen violence is on the rise.

“In fact, this is not the case, cases of youth violence come to light earlier, they are cleared up faster, because adults do not film their actions in any way. Young people, probably driven by childlike naivety, are filming, someone is making these recordings public and they are great evidence, “says the official on the Delfi Day program.

“Ten years ago, there were very few videos of this type or they were not seen by the public because there were fewer opportunities; those images were shared by email, so the general public did not see them much,” explains the official.

According to him, in 2012. in 2019, more than 3,000 minors were suspected or accused of committing crimes; – around 1700.

M. Akelaitis urges people who have seen similar videos to report it to the police and not share them in any way.

“It should be recognized that such records are harmful: they encourage other minors who may see such behavior as cool when they see it, and by sharing [tokiais vaizdo įrašais] we are aggravating the problem ”, he warns.

Bullying increased

Ilma Skuodienė, head of the State Service for the Protection and Adoption of Children’s Rights, says the aforementioned cases will be discussed with the families of the suspects.

“Let’s find out what caused the children’s behavior, let’s talk about whether we need our services,” he says.

“The children are filming because they want to pay attention: watch and help me,” says my specialist.

After his return to school after quarantine, he said, the bullying also increased.

“During the quarantine, bullying has moved to the Internet, so now, at the beginning of the school year, it is definitely more gay – who will occupy what place, how will you adapt to the group, etc.” – explains the specialist in the program “Delfi diena”.
According to her, a big problem that can encourage such behavior is that several children spend time after school alone on the street.

“We don’t identify teens as a group to pay attention to, but there is a real lack of extracurricular services and activities for teens. The activities of the day centers are more focused on children from 7 to 12 years old, ”explains I. Skuodienė.