ISFAHAN -- An expert said on Wednesday the youth delinquency rates are on the rise while calling for officials to adopt effective measures to deal with the problem.

Director General of the Prisons Department in the Isfahan Province Seyed-Fazel Mousavi Jalal said the biological, psychological and social factors are among the main causes of the surging criminality rates among the young adults, IRNA reported.

He said the theft constitutes 70 percent of the crimes committed by the youth while those offenders under 16 mostly commit theft offense.

Commenting on the process of delinquents' tendencies to perpetrate crimes, he said delinquency begins often at the age of 16 and reach its climax at the age of 27.

He commented on children's rights, state commitments and popular institutions and said serious steps have to be taken to support children.

He further gave comments on laws and regulations on unattended children, special services provided for handicapped children, support for children and young adults and attempts to deal with children's poverty in Iran.

He referred to welfare measures taken by Iran's Welfare Organization as for children's health, education and training, especially in case of handicapped, single-parent children as well as unattended and street children.

Head of Iran's Welfare Organization Mohammadreza Rah-Chamani said earlier many steps have been taken to support handicapped children, ill-supported and street children adding that currently 3,100 urban and rural care centers, pre-school centers as well as educational and training services are in operation in this regard.