Increased workload relating to juvenile crime and labour disputes

Over the course of last year, the Prosecution Service said their workload relating to juvenile crime had increased, the Arbitration Service also reporting an increase in cases relating to labour disputes. However, fewer disputes relating to tenancy matters were recorded.  

There were actually 806 new cases of juvenile crime recorded over the course of last year,155 more than in the previous year when 651 new cases were recorded. Out of interest, the number of new cases in the years 2014-2016 fluctuated between 590 and 660.

However, as police spokeswoman Judith Aklin was keen to point out, the higher figures for 2018 did not mean youth crime had increased to the extent it may appear, as she went on to explain that while there were actually 868 cases of juvenile crime on the books in all, 62 of them related to previous years. “Only last year were we able to solve cases relating to 2016 and 2017,” she said. While seven cases had resulted in prosecution and 309 cases concluded with penalty orders, 52 cases were dropped, and, by the end of the year, 82 cases had not been able to be resolved. There was no mention of what had happened in the remaining cases.

In a different area, that of arbitration in relation to labour laws, 349 cases were recorded, the highest number in one year hitherto, representing an increase of 20 per cent on the previous year. As to why this was the case, the chairman of the supreme court of Zug, Felix Ulrich, was not able to explain. “As the arbitration authority itself said, the increase in cases cannot be put down to any particular event. It was not as if there were any cases of mass redundancy, for example,” he said. It was noted, too, that there had been an increase in cases where a party accused of a wrong had failed to appear when summoned, and without presenting an excuse, too, something which happened in 20 per cent of cases. Understandably this led to much frustration on the part of the complainant party.

In another related area, it was pleasing to note that in 2018 there were fewer cases where arbitration was sought pertaining to tenancy matters and such like. The number of them last year being the same as in 2016, after an increase in 2017.

This article is based on one by Zoe Gwerder.