Legislative Assembly deputy Vladimir Matienko proposes a curfew for teenagers in the Angara region and is preparing a regional law on child neglect prevention and safety. He believes night outing limits without adults will reduce juvenile crime, especially during the crisis, and that other regions and Germany show such measures can work. The article also describes a federal initiative to introduce similar rules nationwide. The bill is already being considered in the State Duma and provides nighttime restrictions for minors in public places.

A deputy of the Legislative Assembly, Vladimir Matienko, has proposed introducing a “curfew” for teenagers in the Angara region and plans to begin work on a regional law, provisionally titled “On the Prevention of Neglect and the Safety of Adolescents.” Experience from other regions shows that this measure can significantly reduce juvenile crime.
Most offenses here are generally committed at night, which is why Vladimir Matienko wants children under 14 not to be out on the street without adult accompaniment after 9:00 p.m., and teenagers under 16 after 10:00 p.m.
In the parliamentarian’s view, such a law will be especially relevant in times of crisis, when the number of unemployed people will increase and crime may begin to rise.
– We must do everything to protect our children and create laws that would make parents think about their children, – Vladimir Matienko emphasized. – The role of the police must also be strengthened.
The deputy said that he began studying this issue several months ago, worked through a number of regulatory acts from other constituent entities of the Russian Federation (including Krasnodar Krai) and other countries. The parliamentarian particularly noted the law on the supervision of teenagers adopted several years ago in Germany.
– Very often a person’s decline begins with the fact that he skips school or drops out altogether. In Germany, this is how it works: if a child does not come to school in the morning and the parents have not informed the school of the reason for the absence, the school administration contacts the police, who then search for the teenager. If he is found at home, the parents face a hefty fine for their careless attitude toward the child, and if he is not at home, a more serious search begins, – Vladimir Matienko explained. – And here, a child can not go to school for weeks, and no one cares.
Vladimir Matienko has not yet named specific deadlines for completing work on the document, but he expressed hope that he would manage within six months. The parliamentarian has also not decided whether this will be his personal legislative initiative or whether the “Just Russia” faction will submit the bill for consideration by the Legislative Assembly. At the same time, Vladimir Matienko noted that he intends to become a member of it, but only later – there is too much other work right now. As a reminder, he is the only “Just Russia” member in the regional parliament who did not join the faction formed in December.
At the national level

The issue of introducing a “curfew” for children is being considered in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. A bill providing for this norm was submitted for consideration by deputies by President Dmitry Medvedev on December 17. The document is called “On Amendments to the Federal Law ‘On Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation’.” These amendments contain a list of public places that will be off-limits to teenagers under 14 at night without the accompaniment of parents or persons replacing them (according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, nighttime is considered to be the period from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.). This list includes, in particular, restaurants, bars, any entertainment venues, as well as streets, stadiums, parks, squares, internet cafés, shops, and even transport. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, laws of one kind or another have been adopted in 15 Russian regions in recent years, which has led to a sharp reduction in juvenile crime and offenses directed against children themselves. At the same time, the federal bill obliges all regions to introduce the relevant norms into their legislation.