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Date: September 5th, 2001, Bangkok Post

Parents blamed for rise in number of young criminals

Failure to inculcate morals in children

Sirikul Bunnag

Juvenile crime has spread unnoticed in Thai society with parents failing to act as role models, a seminar was told.

Orasom Suthisakhon, a writer on teenage criminals, said the child crime rate was rising. Most young criminals came from broken families or from families which failed to inculcate morals in their children.

She was speaking at a seminar on the sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl by five classmates last week.

The girl was punched in the stomach by one boy while the others made her lie down on a table where they attacked her.

Miss Orasom, who conducted in-depth interviews of 10 young criminals for her book Dek Phan Mai Wai X (New Generation Children X), said loneliness, a lack of family contact and poor guidance helped explain the juvenile crime rate.

Several of the young people she interviewed had never experienced family happiness or love.

Their parents often used violence to solve problems and failed to act as role models. Crime involving young people had spread unnoticed.

In a study on the lifestyle of Thai teens, she found that 90% of teenagers who spent their time at entertainment venues were suffering from loneliness.

They felt they never received happiness from their parents and had nobody to turn to when they got into trouble.

Parents and teachers could not understand them.

Dr Panpimon Lortrakoon, a child psychiatrist, attributed rising juvenile crime to a lack of family love.

The government, she said, should set up a family advising centre.

Jirada Rattanarangsri, from Pracharat Upatham school, said teachers were often blamed when students committed crime. Education reform policy had forced teachers to do more paperwork.

Many had no time to listen to students' problems, she said.