Current Pediatric Research

There is currently observed increase of illegal conducts committed by children in major cities of Tanzania such as Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Mbeya, Dodoma, Morogoro etc. These conducts are reported to involve harm and serious injuries to the victims who some of them has suffered permanent disabilities. This Article argues that this increase denotes failure of the community to take proper care and raise children in good and acceptable manner. Children need not only proper care in their childhood, but also extra care at their adolescence stage. This age is chaotic and moral derogations have now shown great negative impacts.

It is time to find alternative ways to deal with the so called ‘Tatu Mzuka’ and ‘Panya Road’ who are in most cases adolescent children, than locking them up in apprehended and juvenile prisons where their rights under municipal, regional and international laws are highly infringed. These places in most cases do not prepare these adolescents for their positive return to the society but rather distorts their psychology and moral wellbeing. Before raising cries on infringement of child rights in apprehended, there is a need to treat them morally, psychologically and impart patriotism to them before finding themselves in conflict with the law.

This abstract examines the alarming increase in children delinquency within major cities of Tanzania, exploring the relationship between this trend and the inadequate protection of their rights. Drawing on psychological and behavioral perspectives, the study delves into the potential factors contributing to the rise in delinquency, such as socio-economic disparities, family dysfunction, and limited access to quality education and healthcare.

Author(s): Emanuel P Mallya

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