Implications of (non)responsibility of minors on the growth of violence in society

Modern society is witnessing an era of expansion of violence in all spheres of life and work. Violence as a central concept is analyzed and studied, but its presence is still not decreasing and is continuously growing. The only thing that is changing is the forms of violence in schools and families, at sports events and public transport, on the streets and workplaces, on social networks, on the Internet, and through modern information technologies in all other areas of social life. Starting from the premise of the increase in violent acts by minors, the subject of the article includes an analysis of the causes and consequences of young people's propensity for violence at an early age and the responsibility of social actors for such behavior by minors. The responses of Serbian society to juvenile violence are analyzed from the aspect of educational work with kids, and the initiation of disciplinary, moral, and legal sanctions against minors. The aim of the article is to reveal and scientifically explain the contemporary causes of the sudden expansion of juvenile violence, based on a more complete description of this harmful social phenomenon, but also to explain the degree of effectiveness of the sanctions applied to juvenile perpetrators of violent acts. In data collection, the research method used in this article is a survey and free-form interview techniques, as well as the operational method of document content analysis, primarily its qualitative and quantitative document analysis techniques. In processing the obtained data, the statistical method applied, mainly its descriptive analysis procedures, with an emphasis on the frequencies of the number of reported, accused, and convicted minors for criminal acts of domestic violence and against marriage and family, in the period from 2013 to 2022, on the territory of the Republic of Serbia. The research results produced several new methodological procedures for the early detection of violent acts and for the identification and recognition of those who are candidates for juvenile behavior. In addition, systemic measures are offered to combat this socially dangerous phenomenon, as well as scientifically based proposals for combating juvenile violence, which represent a good basis for parents, guardians, teachers, professors, and competent social institutions, bodies, and organizations of modern society to act preventively and protectively to reduce juvenile violence.