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BEIJING (AP) -- The number of underage criminals in China has more than doubled in the last decade, and experts blame the rise on broken families, loosened social controls and the Internet's negative influence, an official newspaper reported.
Academics put the number of juvenile criminals - those between the ages of 14 and 18 - at about 80,000, up from 33,000 in 1998, the official China Daily said Wednesday, citing figures presented at a recent conference.
"Offenders' average ages have become younger and they are committing new types of crime and forming larger gangs," youth crime researcher Liu Guiming was quoted as saying.
Liu blamed the problem primarily on "the influence of broken families, the depletion of school education, and incomplete social management" - an apparent reference to the withdrawal of Communist Party influence in private lives amid the rise of the private sector.
About 59 percent of juvenile criminals come from broken homes, the paper said, noting figures collected by Shang Xiuyun, a Beijing judge specializing in juvenile crime.
Emotional neglect, broken marriages, and rising levels of violence in schools and in the home - all common worldwide causes of juvenile delinquency - are contributing to the problem, the report said.
However, China's problem also exhibits unique features, including abandonment and meager education levels among an estimated 20 million children between the ages of six and 16 left behind in rural villages by the country's army of migrant workers.
Sociologists say such youths have to fend for themselves and are more likely to drop out of school and drift into menial jobs and crime.
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