JUVENILE DELINQUECYSynopsis

Jigyasa Sharma A11911110029 5th semester, B.A.LL.B. (hons.) 2010-2015.

Juvenile Delinquency
Introduction
A Juvenile or Child means a person who has not completed eighteen years of age. According to International Law, a Child means every human being below the age of 18 years. Today this is a universally accepted definition of a child which comes from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The notions about juvenile delinquency held by laymen and some law enforcement officials are faulty and misleading. For one thing, they often assume that juvenile delinquents are simply under-age criminals that is, non-adult criminals, or juveniles who engage in offences that constitute crimes when committed by adults, and are between the age of seven and sixteen or eighteen years, as prescribed by the law of the land. The maximum age today for juvenile delinquents according to the Juvenile Justice Act of 1986 is 16years for boys and 18years for girls. Youths who are involved in status offences such as truancy, vagrancy, immorality and ungovernability also fall within the definition of juvenile delinquency. According to Reckless (1965), the term juvenile delinquency applies to the violation of crim inal code and/or pursuit of certain patterns of behaviour disapproved of for children and young adolescents. Thus, both age and behavioural infractions prohibited in the statutes are important in the concept of juvenile delinquency. The difference between a delinquent child and an adult criminal is important from the case-work approach. The difference between the two is made by the conduct involved, the methods employed by the court, the philosophy and methods applied in treatment, and the individuals status, reputation and civil rights in the community after adjudication. A number of factors play an important role in a youngsters delinquencies. Individual Factors: Submisiveness Defiance Hostility Impulsiveness Feeling of insecurity Fear Emotional conflicts Lack of self-control

Situational Factors: Family Peer group relations School environment- Adjustment to school mates; attitudes toward school; Failure in class or academic interests. Movies Working environment

Many theories consider family as the most significant factor in the development of juvenile delinquency. The following factors may lead to a youngsters delinquencies, on the family front: Parents discipline Parents affection Cohesiveness of family Conduct standards of home Substitute parents Fathers work habits Economic condition of family Conjugal relations of parents Broken homes Affection of siblings Household duties Culture refinement home

Reasons for choosing topic:

India is perhaps the only country in the world which has the dubious distinction of having maximum number of laws to regulate the conduct of society. It is the only country where almost all aspects of human behavior i.e. behavior with human beings, behavior with animals (both domestic & wild) with nature & environment etc. all are sought to be governed by laws rather than through education or innate enlightenment which is the preserve of every egalitarian society. Should we study or not? Should we know something or not? Are prescribed by laws such as right to education, right to information etc. We even have framed laws for such a subtle issue as to how should we

respect our aged parents and what consequences would befall on us on default. Thus there is a plethora of laws on virtually all subjects/aspects of human behavior. It is difficult to say if this state of affairs is symptomatic of a healthy state of our society or an ailing state needing urgent treatment. In common parlance a person dependent on a huge cache of medicines is assumed to be ill or not keeping good health and not a healthy being. Though totaling ruling out the use/consumption of medicines ever in ones life is also utopian wishful thinking defying logic , excess of anything however good is equally bad. This way we are not being educated in real sense but domesticated like animals which definitely is not a good sign of a progressive society. But what is dismaying is that in spite of a galore of laws created (nigh manufactured) at every bout of sneeze to regulate the conduct of people, the social scenario of our country is far from being heart warming or satisfactory. There has been a spiraling rise in crimes in our country which is symptomatic of our social decadence rather than betterment. While this general decadence is a disturbing phenomenon engaging attention of the whole nation, the recent spurt in cases of so called Juvenile delinquency has however rung ALARM BELLS in our society and needs to be addressed to with desired urgency and promptitude. We follow the dictum CHILDREN OF TODAY ARE LEADERS OF TOMORROW and love them and try to provide full facilities for their growth and development accordingly. But paradoxically enough, the more we care for them the more we suffer despondency and despair. Of late there has been an alarming engagement in the sphere of delinquency of children. From minor acts of abuse, fights, theft etc they have now graduated to commit as heinous and serious crimes as Rape, Robbery, and Murder, which suggests there is something radically wrong with our socio-legal dynamics. Despite twelve years of a separate Act meant to deal with juvenile delinquency, the situation on the ground has not changed much. Indias juvenile justice system calls for complete overhauling to tackle the sluggish pace of judicial processes and lack of proper care at observation homes. Much has been written about victim children, and children in need of care, but very less about juvenile offenders who are the truly neglected children. The state machinery hides them in institutions where no outsider is allowed to tread, and leaves them to their own devise with scant attention being paid to their well being and rehabilitation.

I want to go to a proper hostel where I can study and play like other children. I dont like it here. The older boys beat us and trouble us. The caretaker too beats us if we dont listen to him, says 13-year-old Sonu who was sent to an observation home in Pune on charges of theft. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act 2000 that was passed twelve years ago is meant to safeguard the rights of children like Sonu. The Act is applicable to all states except Jammu and Kashmir, and is in keeping with the guidelines set down in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Juvenile Justice Act refers to two categories of children -- children who have committed offences, or children in conflict with the law, and runaways, orphans and beggars who are classified as children in need of care and protection. Children who are detained in observation homes are from typically poor families; they have had few opportunities to attend regular school. They have already experienced a great deal of marginalisation in their lives. Many have faced abuse and exploitation; some have been severely neglected by their parents causing them to leave their families and resort to crime. Therefore when these children are brought to the observation home they are in immediate need of care and guidance. The juvenile delinquency in the country has been increasing. The children inside the Jails get training in so many evils. When they are out, many of them become drug addicts too. Different groups of hard core criminals and offenders train these children in all types of crimes. In a way a big army of future criminals is being raised in the country, the soldiers of which can murder any one on the behest of their leaders. It is a national problem. On the one hand little children, most of whom belong to poor families (97% in the age group 7-12 have parents whose income is less than Rs. 500 per month, 70.4% with less than 150 per month. 22.5% belong to the scheduled castes while 11.5% to the scheduled tribes) who should be looked after affectionately rot in Jails on the other, out of our disinterestedness we are rearing up a race of criminals that may create a havoc in the decades to come.

The main focus of this paper will be on the reasons which lead to youngsters delinquencies and the legal reforms that are present to deal with such cases.The paper will include field study with Ngos dealing with such delinquents an d with lawyers

handling cases related to juvenile delinquencies along with a case study of a juvenile delinquent.

Suggested References:

1. Wrobleski.M,Henry(2000) an introduction to law enforcement and criminal justice, Thomson learning,USA. 2. Chinte,C.l.(1949):fifty years of juvenile court. In M.Bell(Ed.)Current approaches to delinquency, New York: National Probation and Parole Association. 3. Caldwell: Criminology, p-357

4. Juvenile justice system & rights of child,(2003) Paryas institute of juvenile justice,pp. 9-20 5. Reckless, Walter, hand book of practical suggestions for the treatment of adult and juvenile offenders, government of India, 1956.

7. National crime records Bureau, Report, 2007, New Delhi. 8. Juvenile Delinquency, World Youth Report,2003,pp,200-201 9. Gabriela Mistral, Nobel Prize winning poet from Chile. 10. Ahuja, Ram (2000): social problems in India, Jaipur, Rawat publications