Juvenile Delinquency In India

Juvenile delinquency refers to the violation of the law by a child (under the age of 18). Juvenile delinquents are those children who commit crimes. Juvenile delinquency is an important topic which is needed off spread awareness. It is increasing at an alarming rate, especially among children between the ages of 15 to 16. Juvenile delinquency is a socio-legal problem that impacts our country. It is detrimental to the social aspect of the nation.

Need for a juvenile justice system:

Firstly, children and adolescents commit significant delinquent acts and offences that result in violence. More than one million children and adolescents are being arrested by authorities for their delinquent acts every year.

Secondly, juvenile delinquency itself shows the general health and prosperity of a society. In neighbourhoods, due to high levels of delinquency, antisocial behaviour is seen as part of a larger set of social problems. In this way, juvenile delinquency is troubling because of the victimization that is inflicted.

Finally, the meaning of Juvenile delinquency depends on its severity and other factors. For most young people, juvenile delinquency is a fairly normal aspect of growing up. For a small group of youths, juvenile delinquency is just the beginning stage of what will become antisocial behaviour for a lifetime.

The laws of the Indian justice system:

The first legal mark of a separate trial for juveniles in India was in 1960, known as The Children Act of 1960. It was a response to international concerns about juvenile issues. It aimed to establish proper care, treatment and rehabilitation for juveniles. It also aimed for the protection of rights and interests and the social development of juveniles.

Soon with time, more stricter and efficient laws were made with the aim to reduce juvenile delinquency these laws include The Juvenile Justice Act of 1986 and The Juvenile Justice Act of 2000.

The incident of the “Nirbhaya Delhi Gang Rape Case”, on December 16, 2012, shocked the whole nation and many debates were started among the legal fraternity and socialists. The debate was with regard to the action to be taken against one of the criminals who was just 6 months away from being 18. The involvement of a juvenile in such a heinous crime of rape forced the Indian Legislation to introduce a new law and thus, the Indian Parliament came up with a new known as “Juvenile Justice ( Care and Protection), 2015.” The most significant part of this new law is that cases of children between the ages of 16 to 18 can be tried more strictly.

Causes of Juvenile Delinquency

Violence in their Social Circles:

If the neighbourhood in which a child life is violent, the children will have a tendency to be more prone to the delinquency of violent criminal acts. Children who are being abused or exposed to family violence are likely to be delinquents.

Peer Pressure:

Similar to neighbourhood pressures, peer pressure from direct acquaintances can have an effect on how a child reacts to bad situations. If all of their friends are committing delinquent acts, the child may feel pressured to do the same to be accepted.

Socioeconomic Factors:

Juvenile delinquency is more common in poorer neighbourhoods. While all neighbourhoods are not exempt from delinquent activities, it is believed they happen more in areas where children feel they must commit crimes to prosper. Theft and similar crimes may actually be a result of necessity and not just petty crimes.

Substance Abuse:

Substance abuse in a home or by a child is a very common cause of delinquency. Children who are exposed to substance abuse often do not have the necessities they need to thrive and are forced to find these necessities in other ways. Others, who become dependent on a substance may also need to commit crimes to sustain their habit.

Family:

Parental or adult influence is the most important factor in deterring delinquency. It is also believed that family influence contributes to more delinquent behaviours than peer pressure. In research, it has been proven that families in which there is a weak emotional bonding between the members of the family, tend to have juveniles who turn out to be delinquent. This may be because the juveniles develop psychological problems like rejection and low self-esteem, which may lead to delinquent behaviour.

School:

Schools contribute to juvenile delinquency through negative labelling based on academic achievement, behaviour and social characteristics; irrelevant educational curriculums; arbitrary use of authority. Delinquency prevention that focuses on the individual student while ignoring the contribution of the structure of the schooling system is destined to fail.

Social media:

Children get easily influenced by social networking in many ways. Facebook is one of the developing social networks around the world, which restricts the usage of minors, but results in children getting started to sign up before turning up 13 years with fake DOB. 81% of the children in India in the age group of 8-16 years are active on social media networks compared to 70 per cent in the US and Singapore.

Cases:

1. Six-year-old Ganesh was killed by his neighbour, a juvenile, who kidnapped him to get money to buy a smartphone. The juvenile,16, had planned the murder for a month and was inspired by a crime show on TV. The Juvenile Justice Board sent him to a correctional home for three years.
   

2. A group of juveniles who escaped from an observation home at Kingsway Camp in North Delhi in October ganged up with a jeweller to kill a woman in the Mayur Vihar area of East Delhi. Five of them along with three others had on November 7 allegedly killed the wife of a silver ornaments jeweller -- Ajay Gupta and robbed his house. The five juveniles who had escaped an observational home were roped into crime by a man named Mahesh who was close to these Juveniles and became their 'godfather' and provided them with luxury rented accommodation.

Article By:

Niharika Birari

(Writing Associate, TAO)

Design By:

Shefali Sinha

(Design Lead, TAO)