By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)

Their parents have taken them miles from their hometowns as they chase work and have no money to put them into school, leaving them to survive on the streets and become easy prey for small-time crooks looking to expand their empire. So, is it any wonder children of migrant workers are behind the majority of minor crimes in China's biggest cities?

Not for many experts, who say it is time more support services for migrant workers are established to make it easier to care for and educate their offspring, as well as help them stay on the straight and narrow.

The latest study by Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court showed that teenagers without a local household registration were responsible for 40 to 80 percent of delinquency in the city over the past three years.

The findings were based on three district courts for urban and rural areas that had large numbers of migrant workers or a frequent population flow, with researchers choosing 100 cases at random. Most offenders were 16 to 18 years old, had been born to migrant workers in Beijing or had moved there with parents, and had been involved in one of 10 kinds of crime.

"Property infringements, especially thefts and robbery are the most prevalent, while crimes involving assaults and rape are a close second," said the report, which showed that children of migrant workers or second-generation migrants commit 15 percent more "intentional injuries" and 7 percent more rapes.

The situation in Beijing is not an isolated one. In Shanghai, where there has been little change in the number of crimes committed by local youths, offences by non-native teens have risen almost 70 percent between 2004 and 2007, according to a study by the city's municipal higher people's court last December.

It found that Shanghai courts convicted just 800 minors in 1998, but by 2007 that figure had jumped to 2,682. Of those, 1,833 did not have local household registration, while 86 percent did not have more than a junior school education.

Meanwhile, in the cities of Suzhou and Wuxi, both in Jiangsu province, non-native teens committed 87 and 80 percent of juvenile crime respectively, said Chen Jingfang, deputy director of the No 1 criminal law court of Jiangsu Higher People's Court.

And in nearby Kunshan, an area densely populated by migrant workers, Ji Zhen, chief judge of the juvenile crime tribunal, said that figure was more than 90 percent, with almost all offenders from poor families.

Zhang Haitang, vice-president of the Shanghai higher people's court, said the increase in juvenile delinquency was connected to the growth of the migrant population - 6.6 million as of last year, including 604,000 adolescents - with most crimes concentrated in areas where they are known to gather in large numbers.

"Traditionally, community or village organizations specialized in monitoring and helping troublemaking young people, but they are having difficulties in coping with a large number of immigrants," said Zhang.

Officials and experts have attributed the problem to a lack of proper education and the fact children are not properly protected from a social environment conducive to criminal activity. Simply put, parents are not being parental enough.

"Unlike in the 1980s, many migrants now take children with them to the cities, and the whole family of three live in town together," Hu Yunteng, deputy director-general of the research office for the Supreme People's Court (SPC), told China Daily. "But without enough parental care and schooling these children are becoming the hidden danger for crime."

The Beijing court research discovered that most teen offenders were from impoverished families, whose parents were "too busy" with their careers to look after their offspring. The report quoted a teenage suspect surnamed Xiao, who told police officers during questioning: "My parents spend most of their time working in factories. They seldom pay attention to me. They don't even know I steal."

Out of the 100 cases selected as part of the study, 14 of the offenders came from single-parent homes or their parents had separated, with researches suggesting that the adults' negative behavior during a break-up, such as arguing or fighting, caused tremendous harm to their children psychologically, driving them to skip school and hang around various entertainment venues, possibly going on to become infatuated with violent or pornographic material contained in books or online games.

Judge Ji Zhen said unhealthy movies, books and websites, as well as beauty or massage parlors, were serious temptations for juveniles without a job. She told China Daily: "They wander around and have nothing to do but commit crime to make money. Even worse, these young people get acquainted with bad guys who then seduce them into organized criminal gangs.

"They leave school at an early age, so it is easy for them to be manipulated by negative influences to commit crime."

The study also pointed to a lack of education among children of migrants. Only 16 of the accused from the 100 cases at that time were attending school. The others had left early in the hope of finding low-income jobs, the report said.

In provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across China, local governments are able to formulate independent education policies, but, in many, migrants are still unable to send their children for pre-university education for free.

Data for Shanghai shows the city had accepted 380,000 children from its migrant population by Sept 2007, with half studying at special schools established to cater to the sidelined community.

"Education quality can not be secured in such schools and some even do not have a lawful license," said city court official Zhang, who added: "There is a bias against non-resident children, leading them to lose interest in their studies and even force them to give up school and fall into evil ways."

The central government has called for public schools to scrap extra fees for migrants and for local governments to revamp their management policies to ensure these children receive a proper education.

Authorities have also been urged to follow the example set by Guangdong province, which has around 30 million migrant workers. Its public security bureau recently announced it was to revise its rules and allow those who had lived there for more than seven years to apply for permanent residence permits, enabling their children to enjoy nine years of free, compulsory schooling. The move will save parents tens of thousands of yuan.

"Protecting the legal right to an education is the fundamental way to ensure migrant youngsters have a pleasant childhood and prevent them from committing crime," added Hu at the SPC.

Shanghai is also leading the way by providing free skills training for teenage migrants and, in October last year, saw its first batch of 19 youngsters start on certified technical courses aimed at boosting job opportunities, reported Shanghai Daily.

Meanwhile, a local court in Kunshan has set up a workshop to reduce juvenile crime and instigated a policy to hand lighter or probationary sentences to teenage offenders for their first offence.

And despite the crime problem that has arisen in recent years, Hu said it was important to recognize the valuable and positive contributions migrant workers have given to city development. "A city cannot develop without the participation of migrants, so more services should be provided for them, rather than just better management of them," he said.

Last update: 06-05-2009 22:34