Minister of Home Affairs and Culture Ali Ihsaan has stated that with the recent amendments to laws, exposing children to criminal environments is now considered a crime and those who do so will be arrested and legal action will be taken against them. Speaking at a forum, Minister of Home Affairs and Culture Ali Ihsaan said that so far, about 400 children have been recorded as being in criminal environments. The minister also said that the number of such children and those recorded as being at risk of committing crimes is over 1000.
“If we don’t take care of these 1000 children, in the future we will see them in jail. Or committing such serious crimes. That’s why we are establishing an island called Hope Island,” the minister said. The minister said that under the Hope Island project, all children who are active in criminal environments and those at risk of being exposed to criminal environments will be brought out to society as good people. Hope Island isd people. Hope Island is an island being developed with facilities needed to bring out children who commit crimes to society as morally upright, beneficial members of society. The minister said that to keep children away from criminal environments, many social issues need to be resolved. This includes solving the problem of housing shortages and preventing the exploitation of legal protections for children, the minister said.
The minister noted that while exposing children to criminal environments was not previously considered a crime, with the recent amendments to the law, action can now be taken. Therefore, Minister Ihsaan said that those who expose children to criminal environments will be arrested, prosecuted, and legal action will be taken against them. The minister said that even until Hope Island is established, some programs are being conducted for children in criminal environments. In this regard, the minister noted that psychosocial intervention programs targeting such children are being conducted. The minister also said that work is being done to train people to provide various psychological treatments needed for such children.
The government has decided to lower the age of criminal responsibility in criminal cases to 14 years. This is also an important decision made by the government to keep children away from criminal environments.”
