The Effect of Crime on Colombian Youth and Its Causes

The following information was obtained from an article published on 5 June 2011 by the website of Colombian newspaper El Espectador. Additional references concerning the topic of crime’s influence on Colombian youth and its causes were also taken from an RCN Radio articles published on 21 June 2011, and 22 June 2011 as well as a Servindi from 7 June 2011 and an El Espectador video from 9 June 2011.

Crime among the youth in Colombia is not simply limited to the children and adolescents that commit the crimes and their motives. The subject also encompasses social issues that lead to crime. In light of the recent legal provision in the law of citizen security that no longer allows offenders to be released after reaching 21 years of age, El Espectador interviewed several psychiatrists who gave their professional opinions on the problem of adolescents in Colombian jails and their motives for deliquency (El Espectador 5 June 2011). One of the reasons given in the article is the poor relationships that the offenders have with their families (ibid.). The family is the environment in which a child grows and is expected to learn manners and skills necessary to help the child mature as he or she reaches adulthood.

RCN Radio reported that 8-12% of Colombian children suffered from depression, which echoes the El Espectador article particularly in the description of such children as irritable (El Espectador 5 June 2011 and RCN Radio 22 June 2011). Another RCN article stated that there are 250,000 children in Colombia without knowledge of their biological parents (RCN Radio 22 June 2011). The RCN report also makes note of 30 cases of parental abuse through June of 2011(ibid). These articles show an unhealthy environment for the children’s psychological health, and in the case that a child should not know his or her biological father removes another figure meant to provide guidance and care. The emotional deficiencies in these types of environments can also cause the children to seek belonging in other groups, some of them being criminal (El Espectador 5 June 2011). These families are usually of low income and thus plague the children with familial and financial issues.

As children grow older and need to find work, another cause for delinquency, unemployment, presents itself. On the island of San Andrés, Colombian high school graduates usually have a difficult time finding work and some 10% of them turn to narcotics trafficking (Radio Nacional de Colombia 23 June 2011). Narcotics provides an easy way to earn income. Drug sales will most likely remain an attractive option to those youths.

In relation to the drug trade, the El Espectador article also commented on the fact that the new law on citizen safety and security was also aimed to provide stricter punishments for adults who contract minors for criminal acts (El Espectador 5 June 2011). One such case particular to drug activity involved a 7-year-old caught with 7 small packets of marijuana, and he had been contracted by criminals to distribute the drug within his school (9 June 2011 El Espectador). This article shows the very early start that some children have in their involvement with crime due to the recruitment of criminals.

As previously mentioned, emotional deficiency can lead to want of a sense of belonging and can also lead minors to find criminal groups attractive, which include guerilla groups such as FARC. Servindi.com reported the recruitment of indigenous males between the ages of 12 and 15 (Servindi 7 June 2011). The recruits were assigned tasks for FARC such as transporting supplies and installing antipersonnel mines in exchange for 15,000 pesos (ibid.). This example further supports that fact that Colombian youth to commit crime and is also connected to the social issue of the indigenous people who generally live in a disadvantaged position. The article also states that similar groups have been recruiting young indigenous males over the past several years (ibid.).

The new edition to the law of citizen security is a direct result of criminal acts committed by minors, which has become a social issue in Colombia. El Espectador reported that the previous statute allowed minors to go free when they completed 21 years of age (El Espectador 5 June 2011). Thus, the sentences that minors served for homicide were similar to those served for theft and other crimes, and therefore, these crimes began to register similarly in the minds of convicted youth (ibid.). Illegal activity can appear attractive to some Colombian youth either due to a desire to belong to a group or because of economic necessity. The phenomenon of crime in youth can begin at very young ages, and some social issues in Colombian society contribute in part to this problem.

La Nación [San Jose]. 3 June 2002. Adrián Meza G. “Resurgen cobros violentos.” [Accessed 9 Apr. 2003]

El Espectador. 5 June 2011. Carolina Gutiérrez Torres. “Las Penas de los muchachos.” [Accessed 24 June 2011]

El Espectador. 9 June 2011. “Niño de siete años con marihuana en su maleta.” [Accessed 24 June 2011]

RCN Radio. 22 June 2011. “Entre el 8 y 12% de los niños colombianos padecen depression.” [Accessed 24 June 2011]

RCN Radio. 22 June 2011. “En Colombia 250 mil niños son producto de embarazos no deseados.” [Accessed 24 June 2011]

Radio Nacional de Colombia. 23 June 2011. “Por desempleo, 10% de jóvenes de San Andrés trafican con drogas.” [Accessed 24 June 2011]

Servindi. 7 June 2011. “Colombia: FARC recluta a niños indígenas en el Cauca.” [Accessed 24 June 2011]

Author: Jonathan Ramirez 7/8/11