Stay of children outdoor at night to be restricted in Volgograd Region

Amendments to the law aimed to restrict the stay of minors in public places late in the evening and at night, adopted at the federal level were supported by deputies of the Volgograd Regional Duma. The bill is ready and planned for adoption on June 11.

"About 65 percent of children's and teenagers' crimes and offences are committed in our region late in the evening and at night," Galina Khorosheva, deputy administration head of the Volgograd Region, told journalists. "Quite a lot of kids become victims of violence and robberies themselves. A restriction on the stay of our young citizens away from home during 'non-children's' hours will help in solving the problems."

The vice-governor has noted another aspect of the problem, rather important in her opinion: "Parents will have more time for contacts with their children and an additional chance to keep them away from bad habits. In fact, it's during late teenagers' rallies that many of them try their first cigarette and first bottle of beer."

Residents of Volgograd have reacted differently to the amendments.

"We definitely don't like it," Alexei Skosyrev, a teenager of 13, living in the Tsentralny District of Volgograd, said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "I'm not a hooligan, and I'm not afraid of hooligans. Why can't I communicate with my friends till late at night? In the afternoon, while at study, we just have no time for that."

"No doubt, a restriction on contacts of teenagers in evening and night hours is a mistake made by parliamentarians," said Andrei Bachman, a political scientist and activist of the Volgograd antifascist movement. "These are repressive measures by the state. That is, either we have such a heavy crime rate among teenagers that the state is forced to introduce a curfew for children, or the authorities have ceased to trust our parents, finding their educational measures obviously insufficient."

In his turn, Victor Perfiliev, a resident of the Tsentralny District of Volgograd, finds the decision of the MPs to restrict the stay of children in public places in late hours as "absolutely correct and timely."

According to his story, "in summer it's impossible to sleep at night: squalls, cries, fights till 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning." Mr Perfiliev continued: "The district militiaman stays idling. Parents are indifferent to their children. It's time to put things in order. There's no need for them to hang about night."