Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr K. Zarbaliyeva / Azerbaijan juvenile delinquent legislation needs to be changed. Transmission of delinquents from breeding schools to reformatories intended for adults after they are 18 negatively affects their upbringing and improvement, the Chairman of Azerbaijan Anti-torture Committee, Elchin Behbudov, said to Trend on 12 September.
Behbudov will apply to the Defence Ministry and the Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani Parliament) in connection with changing the legislation. He suggests construction of a new reformatory at the breeding school for juvenile delinquents.
This issue is being discussed at the Penitentiary Service, the PR head of the Central Department of the Azerbaijan Justice Ministry's Penitentiary Service, Mehman Sadigov, said. He also believes transmission of juvenile delinquents to reformatories intended for adults after they rich 18 negatively affects their upbringing.
"The atmosphere in a breeding school dramatically differs from the one in a reformatory," Sadigov said.
Transmission of juveniles from breeding schools to reformatories causes a stress and fear in them, according to the head of the breeding school at the Penitentiary Service, Imran Mammadov. The transmission leaves upbringing process half way. "So, the upbringing process we carry on gives no results. The conditions are not alike in breeding schools and reformatories. In breeding schools children have computer studies and other subjects," he said. Mammadov suggests setting of a two-regime establishment, with the first regime intended for delinquents under 20 and the second one for delinquents over 20. He also considers it necessary to locate investigation cell at the breeding school. According to Mammadov, some 50-60 children are annually transmitted from the breeding school to the reformatory intended for adults.
The breeding school holds 56 delinquents. Most of them were jailed for calculated homicide and sexual crimes. Some 30-32% of the delinquents came from unhappy families residing in Baku and the regions of Azerbaijan.