Child Crimes in Bangladesh

In  Bangladesh  an  estimated  55,000–85,000  children  are  believed  to  be involved with criminal gangs engaged in arms and drug trading. They carry pistols, revolvers, bullets,  pipe guns, short  guns,  cut-rifles, AK-38’s, SMG’s, hand  bombs, knives, swords and razors. 

The children who live on the streets, in squat or in low-income settlements

involved with activities of carrying firearms and these children are stigmatized by the society. Adult criminals and organized crime syndicates use children to carry out such acts and they confront the law and punishment. More girls involve themselves with criminal activities than boys due to poverty. The children face difficulties to manage a suitable  work  as  they  are  unskilled.  Sometimes  they  have  to  starve  due  to unemployment and compel to involve themselves in criminal activities. Some street children have no parents  or guardians and they have to  manage food,  shelter and clothes for themselves by any necessary means. The criminals try to allure them into committing criminal activities in exchange for food, shelter, and money.  The drug smugglers give the children more money than they get from daily labor and more cases they  became addicted to  drugs.  Sometimes the criminal  groups  engaged the children in theft, vandalism, and mugging. Some involve in criminal activities because their  senior  family  members  are  already  involved  with  these  activities  and  they (children) are encouraged to do the criminal acts. Common criminal activities include drug addiction (44%), theft  (21%), trafficking (14%) etc. In the  big cities the poor children  see that some  people became rich by  the  criminal  activities and  they are honored in the society. Some children take criminal activities to become rich in illegal ways. To keep the children free from criminal activities we need to take the following steps (An Assessment Study for Children at Risk of Coming in Contact With Criminal