umm hussain
Junior Member
Raid Qusti, Arab News
Dr. Humaid Al-Shayegi
DIRIYAH, 5 April 2007 — Boys as young as 10 and girls as young as 13 are taking drugs in the Kingdom’s public schools, a study conducted for the Royal Court by the Riyadh-based King Saud University found.
The outcome of the study, conducted by six experts, was made public yesterday at a scientific symposium held at the Ministry of Social Affairs to mark the World Day for Social Development.
The ministry held a special session in which key speakers talked on the topic: “Family is the First Defense in Juvenile Crime.”
“The study covered many public schools in the Kingdom’s 13 regions,” Dr. Humaid Al-Shayegi, one of the main speakers at the session, told Arab News. The professor, who has a degree in criminology from a US university, said that many public schools refused to take part in the study even though the late King Fahd had commissioned it five years ago.
“School principals told us we should not open the eyes of youngsters to the dangerous trends in society,” Dr. Al-Shayegi told the audience, which consisted of sociologists, social workers and media persons. “I tell those who refused to take part to ‘wake up,’” he added.
According to the professor, the percentage of drug usage in the Kingdom was still lower compared to other countries and that the efforts of the families to supervise their children as well as those of concerned government authorities was essential to combat the menace.
“Are we supposed to just sit and keep our eyes shut to this? We should not just sit and wait for the percentage to grow,” he said.
He added that it is unhelpful that there is an absence of “real and carefully studied programs” at schools warning youngsters of the consequences of drug usage. “The old slogan: ‘No to Drugs’ will not work anymore,” said Dr. Al-Shayegi, who reprimanded the education sector for trying to brush the problem under the carpet and pretending it does not exist.
Dr. Al-Shayegi said that drug usage was also widespread in the Kingdom’s prisons, adding that prisons are “schools that teach crime rather than just being institutions for reformation.”
He further noted how he had met several youngsters at juvenile detention centres and how they told him it was easy to buy drugs inside prison. “They told me that they were getting the best products in jail, better than what they could get on the streets,” he said. “The head of prisons in the Kingdom might be mad at my remarks but this is a reality that we cannot hide away from.”
He added that many juveniles were being imprisoned for minor crimes but becoming hardened criminals in prison. “There are inmates who recruit others. When they leave jail they form their own gangs,” he said.
Dr. Al-Shayegi said that an acute shortage of social workers and rehabilitation experts in the Kingdom has aggravated the problem. “Take our capital, a city of 5.5 million people, for example. There are only four employees in the Social Protection Department. ... Other GCC countries like Kuwait, with a population of just 1.5 million, have dozens,” he said.
During the symposium, Deputy Minister of Social Affairs Ayed Al-Radadi said that an average of 2,500 youths were annually sent to juvenile detention centers in Riyadh alone — a sign of an increase in youth crime in the Kingdom.
If one were to survey all of the Kingdom’s cities, then that number would be expected to be over 10,000 each year. Al-Radadi added that taking into consideration the fact that 50 percent of the Kingdom’s population was under the age of 15, these statistics were sounding alarm bells.
Dr. Al-Shayegi said that instead of finding immediate solutions to the problem, government bodies were busy blaming one another about who is responsible for the rise in juvenile crime.
When asked by a woman member in the audience who works in the social field, Dr. Al-Shayegi denied that the presence of foreign workers in the Kingdom had anything to do with the rise in juvenile crime. “We should not look for a hanger to hang our problems on. Foreign workers here are just like they are in any other country,” he said.
Dr. Al-Shayegi said that differences in customs and traditions were always existent in the Kingdom before its unification. He pointed out that the crime rate among Saudis was larger than that among non-Saudis. He also said that Saudi criminals included those who are below 20 and over 40, and also women.
“Foreign criminals in the Kingdom, on the other hand, are usually between the ages of 20 and 40. And there are very few women,” he said, adding that non-Saudis committed more homicide crimes than Saudis and that both Saudis and non-Saudis were equally indulging in embezzlement crimes.
“However, in terms of drug usage, Saudis surpass foreigners by leaps and bounds.”
He further called on the Kingdom’s judges to punish juvenile criminals by handing them community work rather than imprisonment, noting that the latter would help rehabilitate them into society.
Dr. Humaid Al-Shayegi
DIRIYAH, 5 April 2007 — Boys as young as 10 and girls as young as 13 are taking drugs in the Kingdom’s public schools, a study conducted for the Royal Court by the Riyadh-based King Saud University found.
The outcome of the study, conducted by six experts, was made public yesterday at a scientific symposium held at the Ministry of Social Affairs to mark the World Day for Social Development.
The ministry held a special session in which key speakers talked on the topic: “Family is the First Defense in Juvenile Crime.”
“The study covered many public schools in the Kingdom’s 13 regions,” Dr. Humaid Al-Shayegi, one of the main speakers at the session, told Arab News. The professor, who has a degree in criminology from a US university, said that many public schools refused to take part in the study even though the late King Fahd had commissioned it five years ago.
“School principals told us we should not open the eyes of youngsters to the dangerous trends in society,” Dr. Al-Shayegi told the audience, which consisted of sociologists, social workers and media persons. “I tell those who refused to take part to ‘wake up,’” he added.
According to the professor, the percentage of drug usage in the Kingdom was still lower compared to other countries and that the efforts of the families to supervise their children as well as those of concerned government authorities was essential to combat the menace.
“Are we supposed to just sit and keep our eyes shut to this? We should not just sit and wait for the percentage to grow,” he said.
He added that it is unhelpful that there is an absence of “real and carefully studied programs” at schools warning youngsters of the consequences of drug usage. “The old slogan: ‘No to Drugs’ will not work anymore,” said Dr. Al-Shayegi, who reprimanded the education sector for trying to brush the problem under the carpet and pretending it does not exist.
Dr. Al-Shayegi said that drug usage was also widespread in the Kingdom’s prisons, adding that prisons are “schools that teach crime rather than just being institutions for reformation.”
He further noted how he had met several youngsters at juvenile detention centres and how they told him it was easy to buy drugs inside prison. “They told me that they were getting the best products in jail, better than what they could get on the streets,” he said. “The head of prisons in the Kingdom might be mad at my remarks but this is a reality that we cannot hide away from.”
He added that many juveniles were being imprisoned for minor crimes but becoming hardened criminals in prison. “There are inmates who recruit others. When they leave jail they form their own gangs,” he said.
Dr. Al-Shayegi said that an acute shortage of social workers and rehabilitation experts in the Kingdom has aggravated the problem. “Take our capital, a city of 5.5 million people, for example. There are only four employees in the Social Protection Department. ... Other GCC countries like Kuwait, with a population of just 1.5 million, have dozens,” he said.
During the symposium, Deputy Minister of Social Affairs Ayed Al-Radadi said that an average of 2,500 youths were annually sent to juvenile detention centers in Riyadh alone — a sign of an increase in youth crime in the Kingdom.
If one were to survey all of the Kingdom’s cities, then that number would be expected to be over 10,000 each year. Al-Radadi added that taking into consideration the fact that 50 percent of the Kingdom’s population was under the age of 15, these statistics were sounding alarm bells.
Dr. Al-Shayegi said that instead of finding immediate solutions to the problem, government bodies were busy blaming one another about who is responsible for the rise in juvenile crime.
When asked by a woman member in the audience who works in the social field, Dr. Al-Shayegi denied that the presence of foreign workers in the Kingdom had anything to do with the rise in juvenile crime. “We should not look for a hanger to hang our problems on. Foreign workers here are just like they are in any other country,” he said.
Dr. Al-Shayegi said that differences in customs and traditions were always existent in the Kingdom before its unification. He pointed out that the crime rate among Saudis was larger than that among non-Saudis. He also said that Saudi criminals included those who are below 20 and over 40, and also women.
“Foreign criminals in the Kingdom, on the other hand, are usually between the ages of 20 and 40. And there are very few women,” he said, adding that non-Saudis committed more homicide crimes than Saudis and that both Saudis and non-Saudis were equally indulging in embezzlement crimes.
“However, in terms of drug usage, Saudis surpass foreigners by leaps and bounds.”
He further called on the Kingdom’s judges to punish juvenile criminals by handing them community work rather than imprisonment, noting that the latter would help rehabilitate them into society.
. I live in a country where such problems are way, way out of control. It is truly a dangerous doorway for any nation, much less the home of Meccah and Medina.