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Interior Ministry suggests placing juvenile delinquents in specialized centers

The document introduces the term "minor's vagrancy," in order to remove obstacles to law-enforcement practice

MOSCOW, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - The Interior Ministry is set to tighten control over juvenile delinquents and strays. It has drawn amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code according to which the children, suspected or accused of crimes will be placed in temporary accommodation centers /TsVSNP/ for juvenile delinquents, starting from the age of 9.

The document introduces the term "minor's vagrancy," in order to remove obstacles to law-enforcement practice, the newspaper Izvestia said on Saturday.

As of now, Russia has no procedure for placing in special centers the minors who arrived in Russia from former Soviet republics without permission of their parents or guardians.

In practice, it results in these children's being held responsible for violating rules of entry into Russia or rules of sojourn in the country, which is punished by fine of 2,000 to 5,000 roubles with subsequent deportation.

The new legislation sets the timeframe for keeping minors in temporary accommodation centers at 30 days.

"The amendments envision a more differentiated approach to minors - citizens of republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States - placed in temporary accommodation centers for the commission of administrative offenses and socially dangerous acts, the authors of the amendments said in an explanatory note. If their identity is established, no individual work with them is necessary; they can be handed over to their parents or other authorized representatives before the expiration of the timeframe for staying in TsVSNPs.

Police operate TsVSNPs at present, but minors are rarely placed there. The number of minors in TsVSNPs has been steadily declining, despite an increase in the number of crimes they commit in Russian region. Police also noted a stable increase in the number of juvenile delinquents which they believe "is indicative of their criminalization and impunity."