INITIATIONS OF YOUNG PEOPLE INTO CRIMINAL GROUPS

Abstract

The problem of young people entering the world of crime is in the constant prism of the public, due to the expansion of violence, especially in poorer countries and dysfunctional societies. Due to the crisis of the value system, young people increasingly satisfy their needs and interests through crime, as perpetrators of various criminal acts. On that way, they go through various initiations, i.e. proving loyalty and belonging to an informal group. This path most often destroys many young people and puts them on the margins of society. Whether it will happen depends on numerous circumstances, but above all the balance of risk and protective factors in the environment in which the child grows up. It is through this work that we want to point out the problem of initiation of young people not only into the world of adults, but also into other informal groups, be it gangs, mafia organizations, religious sects, school fraternities, etc. All of them have serious consequences for a young person who is often rejected by his family, school, peers and society in general and seeks salvation in informal groups in the desire to belong to someone and with the aim of solving his problems. That path is always wrong, and each of these criminal groups is a vicious circle from which it is later difficult to escape due to the members' retaliation against those who want to leave them.