The share of crimes involving information technologies will increase to 70% in Belarus in the next 5-10 years - expert

April 24, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. In the next 5-10 years, the structure of crime in Belarus will change, and about 70% of crimes will be related to information technologies. This forecast was made by Vladimir Bachilo, Head of the Personnel Training Department of the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, Candidate of Legal Sciences, today at the international scientific and practical conference "Problems of forming legal culture of youth at the present stage" in Vitebsk, BELTA correspondent reports. The forecast is based on the analysis of the state and trends of crime in Belarus, and general processes occurring in society, so it is necessary to be prepared for changing conditions, the expert noted. Taking these trends into account, it is possible to predict juvenile delinquency, which will also be dominated by criminal offenses related to information technologies. At the same time, the process of solving such crimes will also change. "Even today, the use of a mobile phone and relevant software allows for a crime scene investigation at a qualitatively different level," said Vladimir Bachilo. Characterizing the current state of juvenile delinquency, the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted that over the past five years, there has been a trend of decreasing the proportion of crimes committed by minors in the overall structure of crime. Last year, compared to 2007, this figure decreased by 0.4 percentage points and amounted to 6.8%, and the number of participants in crimes under the age of 18 also decreased by 8.8%. Among minors who committed a criminal offense, 25% were intoxicated, and 53% of minors committed crimes as part of a group. About 70% of juvenile offenders are students of schools, lyceums, vocational schools, and about 25% were neither studying nor working at the time of the crime. The predominant types of crimes among minors are theft, hooliganism, robbery, vehicle theft, fraud, computer-related theft, as well as illicit drug trafficking. -0-