JUVENILE DELINQUENCY DISHA GUPTA BASICS OF LAW Tue, Jan 21, 2020, at ,12:02 PM Introduction Juvenile justice systems have been designed to respond to the needs of young offenders. One principle role has been to provide specialized preventive and treatment services for children and young person’s as a means of secondary preventions, rehabilitations and improved socialization. State’s responsibility of Welfare of the children, with the passage of time, has shifted to the social organizations and certain philanthropic bodies. Juvenile justice is one of the steps taken by the state so as to attain the constitutional vision of India pertaining care and welfare of children. The provisions of the constitution which grant the special status to the children Article 15(3), 24, 39(e) & (f) and 45, National policy for children 1974, 2013, declare that children are a national asset. However, juvenile delinquency has been increasing in the capital city of Delhi and other places in India at an alarming rate. The involvement of the juveniles in serious offences like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and abduction has raised concerns in the nation. After the December 2012 Gang rape in Delhi (or Nirbhaya case, as it was commonly called), many debates and discussions pointed to the softer approach of Juvenile Justice System to serious offences. It has been found that the youngsters can be as brutal as the adults, which forced the people to reanalyze the definition and approach to juvenile delinquents in India. Meaning of Juvenile Delinquency The term juvenile justice emerged from the word ‘Juvenis’, in Latin, it means Young so a justice system for the young. Etymologically, the term delinquency has been derived from the Latin word 'delinquer' means 'to omit'. The Romans used the term to refer to the failure of a person to perform the assigned task or duty. The term ‘juvenile delinquency’ is heard and used so frequently that it is often assumed that everyone means the same thing when using it. Yet definitions differ widely in meaning and content People generally agree that juvenile delinquency is misbehaviour by children but there is much less agreement on the specifics of what constitutes misbehaviour or who falls into the category of children. Historically the concept of juvenile justice was derived from a belief that the problems of juvenile delinquency in abnormal situations are not amenable to the resolution within the framework of the traditional process of criminal law. Laws governing Juvenile Justice in India Juvenile Justice Act was enacted by India in the year 1986. Following this, the general assembly of the United Nations adopted the convention which dealt with the rights of a child, and it was in 1992 when India ratified the UNCRC. The main concern of the convention was to uphold and cherish the right of the child to reintegrate with the society without any judicial proceedings initiated or running against him and in order to attain this, the government felt that there was a need to rewrite the existing law. And therefore in the year 2000, the old law was replaced by the new – Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act. Chapter IV of the Juvenile Justice Act lays down numerous provisions which have focussed their attention on the betterment and welfare of children and also the reformation and rehabilitation of juveniles in every possible circumstance. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1861- This code allowed for separate trials of persons younger than age 15 and their treatment under the reformatories rather than prisons. It also laid down provisions of probation of the young offenders. Such attempts marked the changing attitude and approach of state to juvenile delinquents and the transition from penal to reformative philosophy. In this regard, the Reformatory School Act 1876 and 1897 came as a harbinger of such legislations. Under the Act, the provisions were laid down for putting the delinquents in the reformatory schools for a period of two to seven years. However, as they attained 18 years of age, they were shifted to adult prisons. Provision for treatment and rehabilitation of young offenders was laid down in the 1897 Act. Juvenile Justice Act, 1986- In 1986, the central government of India passed a central Act, called the Juvenile Justice Act of 1986. It was social legislation that aimed to provide care, protection, treatment and rehabilitation for delinquent and neglected children. It also looked into the adjudication of juvenile matters. It created juvenile courts for the offenders and juvenile welfare boards for the non-offenders/ neglected children. Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000- This act provided for a uniform legal framework of justice across the country. The main objective of the new Act was to ensure that no child (up to the age 18 years) offender is lodged in jail. The Act also made provisions for the infrastructure and machinery for care, protection and rehabilitation of children. The Act was again amended in 2006 and then in 2010. The Juvenile Justice Act, apart for providing for the care, protection, rehabilitation and development needs also makes the juvenile adjudication and disposition system child – friendly. It enables the Juvenile Justice Board (earlier called Juvenile Court) in taking a multi-disciplinary approach when conducting inquiries. Under the Act, the Child Welfare Committee has been established to cater to the needs of vulnerable children. Juvenile Justice Act, 2015- The new Juvenile Justice Act of 2015 took into cognizance the involvement of juveniles in heinous crimes and brought out some amendments. Under the new legal provisions, if a child of 16 years or above commits a heinous crime, a preliminary assessment of his mental and physical maturity will be made by the Juvenile Justice Board. Level of maturity will be matched to his capacity to commit such an offence, his ability to understand the consequences of his offence and the circumstances in which he allegedly committed the offence. The Juvenile Justice bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2014 after it was felt in the post- Nirbhaya case that some action has to be taken against the increasing involvement of juveniles in the age group of 16 to 18 in heinous/ serious crimes. The serious crimes have not been in the Indian Acts per se, but they may be taken to mean the category of crimes which would entail imprisonment for 7 years or more for adults. It was felt that JJ Act 2000 was flawed with implementation issues, and the new bill intended to close these loopholes. The bill introduced concepts from Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption 1993. It was laid down under the bill of 2015 that the Juvenile Justice Board will decide whether a juvenile offender in the age group of 16 to 18 years should be treated as an adult. Those juveniles who commit heinous crimes such as murder and rape (which invite punishment of 7 years or more) should be treated as adults. However, if the Board decides, the juvenile can be sent for rehabilitation. CONCLUSION The Juvenile Justice Act of 2016 can be seen as a very progressive step of the Indian Government towards keeping pace with changing trends in juvenile crimes. The bold step under the Act on treating the juvenile offenders found guilty of committing a heinous crime as adults, subject to the observations of the Juvenile Justice Board. The Justice Verma Committee took a stand against the lowering of the age of juveniles in conflict with the law. It was observed in the report that “Any attempt of reducing the age of juvenility, or excluding certain children from the purview of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 on the basis of nature of the offence and age, will violate guarantees made under the Constitution and international instruments, the United Nation Convention of Rights of the Child (UNCRC)”. In India, it is indicated from the crime trends that existing laws (prior to 2016) were not proving to be a deterrent. The constant exposure of children to violence and lack of understanding about the consequences of crime committed makes them quite prone to delinquent tendencies. The problem gets worsened in the absence of some adults in the role of responsible guardians to give them and help them in filtering the information that comes to them through various sources. It is to be kept in mind that the legal subsystem is a part of the larger social system. Any change in the larger whole, that is the society necessitates changes in the constituent parts or the smaller subsystems. Thus, when changes are occurring in society at a fast pace, the legal system has to go in sync with society.