JUVENILE JUSTICE

Introduction-

The term Juvenile refers to a child under certain authorized age who has been found to have
committed offence. Children are considered to be the Assets of the nation. Due, to differences in
our society, the children are not brought up properly which leads to juvenile delinquency.
Majority of children in India lack cared, protected and meaningful childhood. India being a
signatory to UN Declaration on The Rights of The Child, 1959 recognized certain rights of
children such as right to health and care, the right to protection from abuse, the right to
protection from exploitation, right to protection from neglect, right to information, right to
expression and right to nutrition etc. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act,
2015 came into force from 16 January 2016. This act allows juvenile in conflict with law in the
age group of 16-18 years to treat as adults if committed a heinous crime.

History-

It all started from the Delhi Gang Rape case in which one of the convicts was found to be a
juvenile of age 17-and-a-half years when he took part in a gang rape. Instead, of giving him
capital punishment like his fellow convicts was sentenced to 3 years in a juvenile reformation
home. This could be the encouragement of other teenagers to commit similar or rather more
heinous crimes. A bill was introduced by Maneka Gandhi, Minister of Woman and Child
Development in the Parliament on 12 August 2014 that will allow 16 year old to be tired as
adult. The bill passed after some changes on 7 May 2015 in Lok Sabha. This was considered to
be the biggest legal reform in India and would be considered as sense of fear of punishment to
the teenagers of our country. The crime need to be examined by the Juvenile Justice Board to
determine if the crime was committed as a ‘child’ or an ‘adult’.
Who is a Juvenile?

The term Juvenile refers to a child under certain authorized age who has been found to have
committed offence and can be held liable for his criminal acts like an adult.

Difference between Juvenile and a Minor

Minor refers to someone who is not yet an adult in the eyes of law. Juvenile indicates legality,
refers to a young man who is accused of a crime. Juvenile is sort of opposite of a minor, minor
indicates an innocent child whereas juvenile indicates young criminal.

Juvenile Delinquency-

Nowadays children are under social pressure due to new changing society and with the
developing society the perception of the child mind is going through a transitional phase. This
problem has been in existence since time immemorial. A children’s mind can easily be molded.
Child is known as delinquent if he does something which is against the law and is not accepted
by the society. So, juvenile delinquency means involvement of a child or we call a teenager
under the age of 18 in a criminal act. A child is born innocent, but circumstances and situations
may make turn a child into a delinquent.

The reasons behind a Juvenile to become criminal can be many. This may be beyond the control
of the immature youngster. In all these cases giving punishment to the juvenile who is in conflict
with law not always a solution. The juvenile delinquent is a child who acts like a grown up. It
refers to anti-social acts of children which fail to meet certain obligations expected from them by
the society.

Acts of Delinquency may include, Act of running away from home, Stealing, Committing
sexual offences, Visiting Gambling centers, Shop lifting etc.

Reason for juvenile delinquency- Family conflict, Lack of Direction, Unhealthy Competition,
Low intelligence and academic failure and Communication gap etc.
Juvenile Justice-

As per Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 ‘child in conflict with’
means a child who have alleged or found to have committed an offence and who has not
completed the age of 18 years old on the date of commission of such offence, provided if any
child conflict with law under the age group of 16-18 years who alleged or found to be committed
any heinous offences, will be treated as an adults.

Comparison between Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 and Juvenile Justice Act, 2015

Provision Juvenile Justice Act,2000 Juvenile Justice Act,2015

Treatment of juvenile
Juvenile Justice Board
All children under the age of Juveniles aged between 16-18
18 years are treated equally. years committing serious or
heinous offences could be
tired as adults.
Conducts inquiry and directs To determine whether the
 the juvenile to be placed in child is placed in a home or
any fit institution not Children’s court to be tried as
exceeding 3 years. an adult.
Appeals In session court within 30 In Children’s Court within 30
days of Juvenile Justice Board days of Juvenile Justice Board
Order, further appeal to high Order, further appeal to high
court. court.
Adoption No provision for inter- country Inter-country adoption
adoption. allowed if adoption cannot
take place within the country

Juvenile related provisions in CrPC, IPC and Indian Constitution -

Section 27 of The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) a states that any offense not
punishable with death or imprisonment for life, committed by any person who at the date when
he appears or is brought before the court is under the age of sixteen years.

Section 82 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), nothing is an offence which is done by a child under
seven years of age. Also according to the section 83 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), nothing is an
offence which is done by a child above seven years of age and under twelve.

Article 21(a) of the constitution states that all children between the ages of six to fourteen
should be provided with free and compulsory education and Article 45 of the same bare act
states that the state should provide early childhood care and education to all children below the
age of six.

Salient Features of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015-

1. It treats all the children below 18 years equally, except that those in the age group of 16-
18 can be tried as adults if they commit a heinous crime.

2. A child of 16-18 years age, who commits a lesser offence (a serious offence), may be
tried as an adult if he is apprehended after the age of 21 years.
3. A heinous offence attracts a minimum seven years of imprisonment. A serious offence
attracts three to seven years of imprisonment and a petty offence is treated with a three year
imprisonment.

4. No child can be awarded the death penalty or life imprisonment.

5. It mandates setting up of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) in each district with a

metropolitan magistrate and two social workers, including a woman. The JJBs will conduct a
preliminary inquiry of a crime committed by a child within a specified time period and decides
whether he should be sent to rehabilitation centre or sent to a children’s court to be tried as an
adult. The board can take the help of psychologists and psycho-social workers and other
experts to take the decision.

6. A Children’s court is a special court set up under the Commissions for Protection of
Child Rights Act, 2005, or a special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences Act, 2012. In absence of such courts, a juvenile can be tried in a session’s court that
has jurisdiction to try offences under the Act.

Juvenile Justice System should focus on Rehabilitation, Punishment or both-

Juvenile Justice should focus on rehabilitation; it may help the juvenile to transform to reform
and learn constructive behavior. Punishment does not affect the crime rates according to research
study it has stated that punishment give rise to child delinquency. It is the responsibility of the
society to take care of the children, the irresponsibility like lake of care and protection,
discrimination and deprivation make a child to commit heinous crimes.

I think the biggest reason why rehabilitation would work better than punishment is because,
when people are punished they are just locked up and told that they were wrong, but not why
they were wrong, and I feel that with rehabilitation the kids would be told exactly why what they
did was considered crime, they would also be taught who it affects, how it affects them, why it
affects them that way, and a bunch of other things of this nature that would shape their minds to
think about other people before they did things.
But at the same time if see the other side punishment of juvenile is also necessary, as people treat
crimes as relatively minor affairs because they can go on diversion, or simply pay some legal
fees and get off.

Rehabilitation is a massive undertaking that ignores or can't solve the root causes of delinquency.
Neither can punishment, but punishment does have a strong effect. Preventing crime is what the
justice system is designed to do. To expect it to address the societal ills that lead to crime is
overextending it.

Conclusion-

Juvenile crime is not a naturally born in the boy, but it is largely due either to the spirit of
adventure that is to him, to his own stupidity, or to his lack of discipline, according to the nature
of the individual. - Robert Baden- Powell.

The increasing rate of juvenile crime in India is a concerning issue and need to be focused upon.
Although government has laid various legislation and  rules to stop the incidents of juvenile
crimes but the present laws on juveniles  is not creating a deterrent effect on the juveniles and
thus the results are not fruitful and legislative intent is not accomplishing.
We must build effective linkages between districts and states, among various government
agencies in association with child rights groups, along with effective legal services for the
children and their families.