Murder of 12-year-old boy in San Bernardo reveals rise in youth delinquency
Four members of a youth gang were detained following the murder of a 12-year-old boy in San Bernardo. The municipality records a violent robbery rate higher than the metropolitan average.
San Bernardo, focus of youth crime following teenager's death
Four members of a youth criminal gang were detained on Wednesday, allegedly responsible for the murder of a 12-year-old boy in San Bernardo, a municipality at the southern edge of Greater Santiago with more than 300,000 inhabitants. According to t13.cl, the crime raised an urgent question about the criminal reality of the sector.
The incident occurred at the intersection of Catemito and Autopista Central, an area that Carabineros had already included in its map of "red zones" for violent robberies of vehicles during the first half of the year. The rate of violent robberies of motor vehicles in San Bernardo reached 24.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the first quarter, above the 17.8 recorded in the average for the Metropolitan Region.
The municipality's mayor, White, stated that there exists "a gigantic number of minors who are raising their hand to have the opportunity to commit crimes", attributing the phenomenon to "territorial control by organised crime". The local Integrated Security Programme attends to young people with an average age of 15.3 years and operates with a waiting list for new admissions.
One of the four detainees, a 17-year-old, had entered the programme for 24 hours in April 2024 for robbery with intimidation. He re-entered in March of this year for receiving stolen goods, with authorisation from his guardians. His case was classified as "high complexity" by the Municipality of San Bernardo. His stepfather accompanied him in the early morning of Wednesday to voluntarily surrender to Carabineros.
The homicide resulted in a review of the Integrated Security Programme, which the two minors initially detained in connection with the case had previously attended.
Source: Google News CL — Santiago