GUANGZHOU: Officials in South China's Guangdong Province have said they will spare no effort in their bid to curb juvenile delinquency and provide better support services for young people.

As well as running a campaign to make teenagers more aware of local laws and cracking down on illegal Internet cafes, pornographic and violent websites, and pocket books, the province said it will expand its advice hotline for young people and provide more support for children of migrant workers and those from broken homes.

"Juvenile delinquency is a serious problem in the province; we must spare no effort to control it," Rao Ling, an official with the China Youth League's Guangdong Committee, said.

According to official statistics, 8,824 teenagers went on trial for delinquency in Guangdong in 2006, an average of 24 a day and an increase of 2 percent on the previous year.

To provide more support for young people, the juvenile rights protection hotline, 12355, is to be extended to all 21 cities in the province, Rao said.

She said authorities will also keep a closer eye on Internet cafes and bookstores and punish those that sell or promote violent or pornographic material to teenagers.

In 2006, the province closed down 70,050 illegal Internet cafes, while a campaign held last month succeeded in blocking 1,000 online porn links and removing 8,000 pieces of erotic material, Rao said.

Sources claim that China has more than 20 million netizens under the age of 18, and that some 80 percent of all juvenile delinquents had been addicted to the Internet before turning to crime.

Zheng Liangcai, who works with the Guangdong juvenile delinquency research association, said particular attention should be given to gang-related crime.

He said such crimes accounted for 67.5 percent of all juvenile delinquency in the province last year, with the figure rising to 83.4 percent in the Pearl River Delta cities.

He said that the children of migrant workers were often left unattended and were therefore more likely to seek membership of a local gang.

(China Daily 06/08/2007 page5)