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"An increase in juvenile crime has led police to call for more innovative solutions to the problem of delinquency in the UAE.
On the first day of a conference on sports and crime yesterday, Dr Ahmad Sa'ad, a senior UAE social researcher, said juvenile crime had increased by 20 per cent in the past three years, from 190 reported cases in 2001, to 240 in 2003, according to a report in +Gulf News.+ Forty-seven per cent of crimes were committed from 2pm to 8pm, suggesting a strong link between unsupervised free time and criminal behaviour.
Juveniles commit crime at twice the rate of adults, said Dr Jeremy Prichard, from the Australian Institute of Criminology, according to one Australian study.
A small group of juvenile offenders carry on criminal activities into adulthood, "while the rate and seriousness of crime also increases," he said."
Police want to target this group while they are young. Researchers at the conference also showed links between youths taking up sports and crime reduction.
