Crimes By Juveniles-Heinousness,Acceptability And Age Of Adulthood

“A child is a person who is going to carry on what you have started…. He will assume control of your cities, States, and nations. He is going to move in and take over your churches, schools, universities, and corporations…....… the fate of humanity is in his hands”.

-Abraham Lincoln

INTRODUCTION 

The society has undergone tremendous change in terms of its ideologies[1], perspectives and its moral and ethical standard. What was considered immoral a decade ago is no more seen in the same light. Yet the same aspirations have led us into a fast-moving way of life with less time for ourselves and personal introspection. These changes in society and individuals have impacted children as well. They are now exposed to the present fast-growing race, competitiveness, and stress for better performance in every field, which has brought many complexities.
Children are the ‘subservient’ and ‘underclass’ of the society and their development is directly connected with how we raise them.[2] Every society has its own values and mores for responding and treating the children but there are certain things which are universal like if certain wants and desires of the children are fulfilled satisfactorily, the children develop with a positive orientation and if there is neglect in this aspect the result may turn out to be different and dreadful. Thus there is a directly the proportional relationship between the raising of the children and the responding and treating the children.

Juvenile delinquency is not a new problem which any contemporary society is facing but has been there for a long time and in every society. The way a society treats its young population or children can be seen as the measure of how much that society is ‘civilized’. The Early Progressivists[3]believed that the children who come in conflict with the legal system are the children in need of care and protection and are not to be punished as adults. Underlying this philosophy, the basic assumptions were that the children are vulnerable, innocent, and dependent on the adult section of the society.[4]

Thus the early progressivists believed that the first duty to take care of the children is that of the parents i.e. father and mother and it is the duty of the state to enforce that duty and if the parents are unable or unwilling to undertake this duty due to poverty or other reason, then the State has to step-in under the principle of Parent Patriae[5]where the state is clothed with the authority of the parent and nurtures the child as a guardian.

AGE OF ADULTHOOD

The Age of Criminal Responsibility in India has been captive to the practice of the binary classification of the life-span of the human beings into childhood and adulthood and gives rise to the grotesque practice that the person is either child or adult leading to the negation of the very concept of adolescence.[6]The mainstream policy discourse has been to take the whole period of 1-18 years as a single group without any regard for any gradation within this group and different sub-stages of development.[7]

In India, there are a plethora of definitions of ‘child’ for different purposes such as crime prevention, employment, driving, medical decisions, etc. and so there is an absence of any uniform definition of the child under the law.[8] The area of the child welfare has always taken back seat in India and making them the “second-class-citizens” in the sense that the welfare policies were always made from the perspective of adult members of the society.[9] There has been some sort of contradiction within the legal arena with respect to the very definition of the “child”.[10]On the one hand the legal position is that the child cannot undertake the voting[11], driving,[12] medical decision, [13]etc., until (s) he completes the age of 18 years and on the other hand there are provisions which allows a child to undertake employment after the completion of age of 14 years[14] and a child can be held responsible for committing any offence after completing the age 12 years.[15]

HEINIOUSNESS

Juveniles who commit heinous crimes ought to be treated differently from offenders committing petty offences, as the former require more intensive treatment than the latter. Therefore, for such children, we propose a juvenile justice model hinging on rehabilitative ideals. While it does treat offenders committing heinous crimes differently, such differential treatment is envisaged solely within the juvenile justice system, without a subsequent transfer to the adult prisons. The rehabilitation model we propose is premised on the “what works” approach to juvenile offender rehabilitation, followed in Australia.[16] This approach has yielded highly optimistic results with respect to rehabilitation and reformation of juvenile offenders, with a significant reduction in rates of recidivism.[17] The “what works” approach is characterised by three predominant principles, which dictate its functioning: the risk principle, the needs principle and the responsivity principle.[18] The model being suggested would be a viable alternative to the approach adopted by the 2015 Act, and would reflect the aforementioned principles.

Within the 2015 Act, the Board has been granted the extraordinary power of conducting a preliminary enquiry to determine the maturity of the juvenile to commit the offence.[19] Though the Board has been given the discretion to consult experienced psychologists or psycho-social workers for the purpose of such determination,[20] we have earlier argued that it is impossible for the Board to arrive at an objective conclusion regarding the offender’s maturity. To prevent subjective elements from distorting the functioning of the Board, as an alternative, we propose the incorporation of the risk principle.

When a juvenile offender, accused of committing a heinous offence is produced before the Board, the Board first ought to determine whether the offence has been committed by the offender. Such determination, unlike the 2015 Act, is in accordance with the fundamental principle of presumption of innocence, and will follow child friendly methods of adjudication, as embodied under the 2000 Act and the relevant Rules.

REASONS FOR JUVENILE CRIMES IN INDIA

The changes are most apparent in physical parameters, such as change in height and weight of the adults, and followed by other sexual and physical changes of maturity according to time. These physical changes are accompanied by mental changes also from time to time. According to Healy and Bronner, there are many causes of juvenile delinquency which occurs from the bad company, adolescent instability and impulses, early sex experience, mental problems, problem of social suggestibility, school dissatisfaction, street life, and physical condition of all sorts. The factors which cause the juvenile delinquency could be broadly classified under two major head as (a) Social factors, and (b) Personal factors. The most important social factors which cause the juvenile delinquency are broken homes, poverty, delinquency area, companions and gangs, beggary, school learning dissatisfaction, films and pornographic literature, deep seated inner desires etc.


There are also some personal factors like mental deficiency and emotional disturbances which can also contribute to delinquency. It has been observed that good number of delinquents is mentally deficient have revealed that there are larger proportions of mentally defective in the juvenile delinquent group than among the normal children... Mental troubles and mental sickness which causes emotional disturbance also causes juvenile delinquency. Emotional problems, jealous and being thwarted are very common among the delinquent children

PRESENT SITUATION – CURRENT TREND FOR JUVENILE CRIME IN INDIA

The way how the courts in a country deal with the accused is also affected by the legal definition of child. As per the international standards, and also under the juvenile justice system prevalent in India, the way a minor or a child can be tried is not the same as an adult. A juvenile is treated as doli incapax, with no mens rea because the juvenile is not capable of understanding the outcomes of his/ her actions. Keeping this reasoning in mind, juveniles are dealt with under the juvenile justice system, and not under the adult criminal justice system. They can never be given imprisonment or the death penalty. Hence, under the Indian legal system, Article 40 (3) (a) of CRPC defines that State Parties to promote establishment of age below which child is presumed not to have capacity to deviate the penal law. According to the Section 82 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the age of criminal responsibility is apprehended to be 7 years and a juvenile under 7 years cannot be regarded as a juvenile in conflict with law. Thus, nothing is a crime committed by a juvenile between 7 and 12 years that is one who has not achieved enough maturity to judge the nature and consequences of his/ her conduct, and did not know that what she was doing was wrong - Section 83 of IPC, 1860.The data[21] indicates that there has been an increase in crimes committed by children, especially by those in the 16-18 years’ age group.


In the current situation, there is no need to give such a minimal kind of punishment for a heinous and severe offence just because of Age determination or Age factor. The present juvenile system in India is created to believe that juvenile offenders can be reformed and rehabilitated; sending them to bars or prisons will be going to reaffirm their status and identity as “criminals”. There is no guarantee that the juvenile accused will get reformed and will not show their anti-social behavior again – is the important question that arises now. The act is totaling focusing on the reformation rather than penalization. Penalization will definitely create a deterrent effect on the juvenile and increasing rate of crime by juveniles will slow down.


After the Delhi Gang rape case society crying for revisiting the Juvenile Justice Act 2000 to disseminate the age factor would not be ground for showing leniency for heinous crimes committed by juveniles. It is impossible to reform because the born attitude cannot be change by giving group counseling to him to get back the main stream.[22] To main goals drive the nation’s juvenile justice system protecting both public safety and the welfare and rehabilitation of young offender who breaks the law. While preserving the rights of the juveniles, the State Juvenile Justice policies also require balancing these interests.


The juvenile justice system of any country depends upon the national judicial system. Juvenile justice system is specially designated to protect and promote the interest of children; the main aim of juvenile justice is to provide an adequate opportunity so that a child may develop into a normal law-abiding citizen.[23] Bail is the right of the juvenile in every case. According to Section 12(1) of the Juvenile Justice Act 2000 the provision is that juveniles should be released on bail as a general rule and should be sent to jail only in special cases only. Bail can be granted in every case even by the officer in- charge of the police station. The police were obligated to place a juvenile only in the observation home and not in a place of safety. Several Supreme Court rulings mandate that child offender should be ensured opportunity to realize their mistakes and rebuild their lives. A juvenile, even when he loses his way values adult protection, nurturing and guidance, and not their condemnation, retribution, and cold punishment.[24]

ACCEPTABILITY

The “acceptability” of violence in society leading to tolerance of violence at all levels— family, school and community. Media routinely reports about offences being committed by children. There is news of children charged with stealing money, snatching, house breaking, riding on motorcycles without a license, causing accidents, getting into fights, committing sexual abuse or even murder. The juvenile “case” is a complex combination of the young age of the child, the act or inappropriate offending behavior, reaction of family and neighborhood, the legal process of inquiry, and the final outcome that has to ensure that justice has been done at all ends.


Delinquency implies conduct that doesn’t conform to the legal or moral standards of society; it always applies only to acts that, if performed by an adult, would be termed as criminal. This definition covers a range of behaviour that could classify as “delinquency”. However terms such as “beyond parental control”, “anti social”, or “legal action” would not have the exact same meaning everywhere nor would these meanings remain static. Each society has its own unique laws, rules, and expected norms of behaviour. They reflect the prevailing value system, accepted code of behaviour and social expectations.

Initially, delinquency was commonly used to mean only those behaviours of the juveniles which were harmful to society. Thus a teenager was said to be a delinquent when he started stealing, assaulting, indulging in sex offences and developing symptoms like pathological lying and truancy. Thus delinquency, according to psychologists, is a reaction to frustration and conflict, resulting from an imbalance between gratification and renunciation (Mukherjee, 1956). Although similar to biology, the focus is on the individual. Psychological theories also delve into the different environmental factors, other than heredity, that shape an individual’s personality and thinking which in turn influences behaviour.

SUGGESTIONS

Some suggestion is often made to affect the difficulty deal of delinquency in India. Though Indian government has taken progressive and bold steps in this direction, more effective measures are required with respect to implementation. It has been found that though various provisions for juvenile justice are laid down, they’re followed properly. The members of the Juvenile Justice Board should be trained in child psychology and should be sensitized more in child related matters. There are provisions for Special Police unit or dealing with Juveniles at every police station. In reality, these special units are not functional. So, when the delinquency neglected children are taken to police, the police local department isn’t ready to handle the cases in expected manner. The police personnel aren’t very sensitive to the problems that come up. It is suggested that strong steps should be taken to make effective implementation of the laws related to Juvenile Delinquency so that we are able to deal with the problem in a holistic manner. It is also important to monitor the functioning of Observation Homes and Shelter Homes. Rather than handling the problem and counseling them, these places create an atmosphere for resocialization of the juveniles into delinquent world. Instances of inmates of Observation Homes indulging in serious offences are quite many. For reformative and rehabilitative measures, it’s important that the situation is handled very tactfully. Community participation and sensitization in matters associated with delinquency is at extremely important. If f people in society are sensitized about issues of neglected children and children living in difficult situation in places, so they can play important role in rehabilitation. Some informal bodies like registered Residential Associations in different areas can be involved to report matters of juveniles who indulge in deviant behavior, or which cannot be controlled effectively by the parents.


It has been reflected that families are important agents of social control and socialization. So families, alongside other primary groups in society are often more effectively involved in preventive measures

CONCLUSION

Juvenile crimes are a tough reality, and to decrease them, the Act must be effectively executed, along with that consciousness must be created. All the different legislative Acts discussed above goals to strike out a balance between juvenile alleged and found to be in conflict with the law and juvenile in need of care and protection by considering their basic needs through proper care, protection, development, treatment, social re-interpretation by adopting a child friendly approach. These are the positive steps for preventing the children from committing an offence. But Juvenile Delinquency is a very serious problem in India and cannot be deciphered only by means of legislation and government efforts. As far as India in concerned in many of the state’s children Acts has not been effectively enforced. Some of these Acts themselves have defects. Both the governmental and the private agencies should work hand in hand with all authenticity and seriousness to find an effective remedy for the problem of juvenile delinquency in India. Imparting of sex education in schools can also be an answer for juvenile delinquency. Change is possible through better social, economic conditions, creation of awareness and also through a change in people’s attitudes towards juveniles.


For the best benefit of the delinquent, he or she should be rehabilitated as early as possible and integrated back into the society. Also, the State must protect the rights of these children and come up with reformative methods and instill in them values that can socially uplift them and give them a newfound confidence, which they might have lost, so that they can play a productive role in the society.


The children became a good, obedient and loyal citizens take part in the nation building if they have proper care attention and training. This can be achieved to the education, moral, religious and secular training treatment and correction and rehabilitation of the child. In the member of the society, it is paramount importance to us we must devote full attention to ensure that the children are properly cared for so they have gone to rightful place or direction in the society.

    by--
              Vanshika and Priyanka Saha, 2nd-year law students at the Symbiosis Law School, Pune and both of them are currently pursuing B.A.LL.B

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REFERENCES:

[1]From late 1990’s, after the liberalization and privatization of the Indian economy the ideological shift from communism to capitalism took place. This brought with it the idea of individual growth, wealth accumulation and a competitive market. The concept of nuclear families and individual liberty.

[2] John A. Winterdyk (ed.), Juvenile Justice: International Perspectives, Models and Trends 1-3 (CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. 2015)

[3] Julian W. Mack, “The Juvenile Court” 23 HLR 104 (1909):104

[4] Anthony M. Platt, The child savers: The invention of delinquency 137-172 (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1977)

[5] Don Cipriani, Children’s Rights and the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility: A Global Perspective 4-8 (Ashgate Publishing Limited, Surrey, 2009)

[6] John T. Whitehead and Steven P. Lab, Juvenile Justice: An Introduction 1-6 (Anderson Publishing, Massachusetts, 7thedn., 2013)

[7] Geeta Chopra, Child Rights in India: Challenges and Social Action 137-163 (Springer, New Delhi,2015)

[8] Elizabeth Scott, “The Legal Construction of Adolescence,” 29HLR547 (2000)

[9] Sibnath Deb, “Child Safety, Welfare, and Well-Being: Need of the Hour” in Sibnath Deb (ed.), Child Safety, Welfare and Well-being Issues and Challenges 1-11 (Springer New Delhi,2016)

[10] Myron Weiner, The Child and the State in India:Child Labor and Education Policy in Comparative Perspective 3-18 (Princeton University Press, New Jersey,1992)

[11] The Constitution of India, art.326

[12] The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (Act 59 of 1988) s. 4

[13] The Indian Penal Code 1860 (Act 45 of 1860) ss. 88, 89, 90

[14] The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (Act 61 of 1986), s. 3

[15] The Indian Penal Code 1860 (Act 45 of 1860) ss. 82, 83

[16] Andrew Day & Kevin Howells, Victorian Juvenile Justice Rehabilitation Review, 3, January, 2003, available at http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/archive/publications-2000s/victorian-juvenile-justice-rehabilitation-reveiw.pdf (Last visited on January 21, 2016) (The “what works” approach evolved in response to a study published by Robert Martinson (1974) which evaluated juvenile rehabilitation programs and concluded “nothing works” since rehabilitation programs have no effect on recidivism. However, subsequent study by D. Thornton (1987) demonstrated that the data relied on by Martinson did not suggest that nothing worked. To the contrary, the data reveals that treatment through rehabilitation has a positive effect on recidivism. This has been further backed by a number of meta-analytic reviews, which have confirmed the optimistic impact of rehabilitation on recidivism of juvenile offenders)

[17] The National Reentry Resource Centre, Reducing Recidivism, 4, June, 2014, available at https://www.bja.gov/Publications/CSG-ReducingRecidivism.pdf (Last visited on January 21, 2016); Elizabeth Seigle, Nastassia Walsh & Josh Weber, Core Principles for Reducing Recidivism and Improving Other Outcomes for Youth in Juvenile Justice System, 7, available at https://csgjusticecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Core-Principles-for-ReducingRecidivism-and-Improving-Other-Outcomes-for-Youth-in-the-Juvenile-Justice-System.pdf (Last visited on January 21, 2016); James Bonta & Don A. Andrews, Risk-Need-Responsivity Model for Offender Assessment and Rehabilitation (2007); Amanda McMasters, Effective Strategies for Preventing Recidivism Among Juveniles, 51, 52, available at http://digitalcommons.wou.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1057&context=honors_theses (Last visited on January 21, 2016).

[18] Andrew Day, Kevin Howells & Debra Rickwood, Current Trends in Rehabilitation of Juvenile Offenders, 284 Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice 4 (2004); Day & Howells, supra note .

[19]The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, §15(1).

[20] Id.

[21]National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)

[22] The Hindu Magazine, Weekly Edition, Dated 2-11-2014

[23]Dr.S.K.Chatterjee, Offences Against Children and Juvenile Offence, Central Law Publication Allahabad,2013 p.262

[24]  Harsh Mander, Unfair Trials, The Hindu Magazine, Weekly Edition, Dated 2-11-2014 p.2