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Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Juvenile Delinquents
The Latin word ‘juvenilis’ meaning ‘youthful’ is the parent term for today’s very widely used term ‘juvenile’ which in turn means a child. Juvenile justice is one of the fast-emerging issues of the legal system today but before we can dive into the complications faced by legal systems we need to understand the term juvenile delinquency. Child in conflict with the law and juvenile delinquency are interchangeable terms which means a child who has been involved in anti-social activity or crime, the complication arises due to the innocent minds of children which are difficult to be dealt with. Minor in various legislations are not included in the category of reasonable men which is why it becomes difficult to justify their criminal act and to punish them but the real struggle starts after they have fulfilled the said punishment because of social and psychological vulnerabilities. Children face a lot of problems to reintegrate and rehabilitate into society.
India lacked behind in determining the juvenile justice until the Apprentices Act, 1850 came into effect but it gained momentum only after the passing of the Indian Penal Code in 1860. Section 82 lays down the rule of Doli Incapax, exempting any child below 7 years of age from criminal liability, whereas Section 83 deals with a child between the of 7-12 years based on the sufficient maturity gained by them. Section 363A of IPC protects children from the evil designs of the adults. Reformatory Schools Act, 1897, Indian Jail Committee (1919-20), Madras Children Act, 1920, and Bengal and Bombay Acts of 1922 and 1924 are some of the legislations which laid down suggestions to deal with Juvenile delinquents differently from adult offenders. In the post-independence period Children Act, 1960, Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 was passed to mete out juvenile justice. Following up on the instructions of the Beijing Rules and the UN Convention on Right of the Children, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 was enacted.
Before providing protection and care to children, the question arises on how to identify the child in need of care and protection. The answer to this is easily available in Section 2(d) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. In 2015, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act was amended keeping in mind the grievous crime committed by a juvenile in the Nirbhaya Rape Case. It contains the provisions with regard to children above the age of 16 years committing serious offenses. Earlier laws, contained lacunas, exempting children below 18 years to get away after committing serious crimes.
Some provisions in regard to the 2015 amendment of this Act contain Section 4 which pronounces to have one or more justice juvenile boards in every district with judges and social workers having a deep understanding of children psychology, psychiatry, sociology, and law. Section 39 laws down the procedure of rehabilitation and social reintegration. It aims to have individual plans for every child preferably family-based care by different methods such as restoration to family or guardian, with or without supervision or sponsorship, adoption, or foster care. Section 46 is a very interesting section which for the purpose of supporting the child, reintegrating into society after 18 years of age, financially supports such children.
Article 21A, Article 24, Article 47, Article 39 are some of the constitutional provisions from Part III and Part IV of the constitution focusing on Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy, including rights and duties towards children.
Some of the causes of Juvenile Delinquency in India are poverty; family issues, sexual behavior, modern world, virtual world, neighborhood, migration, drug abuse, mental health, the bad company of the peers, increased burden by the schools, etc. are the most noticeable factors affecting the innocent behavior of children.
In spite of all these legislations and amendments, the problem and the solutions to this problem have to be meted out in a thoughtful manner because Juvenile Delinquency has seen a tremendous increase at the rate of 7.2% in 2015-16 in India, According to National Crime Bureau. Many juveniles are still found in adult jails because of the huge population of India, they are not taken proper care of in rehabilitation homes.
States should not out power in the laws regarding Juvenile Delinquency and moreover CrPC guidelines must be followed according to the recommendations made by the Justice Verma Committee Report.
Psychological and reformative approaches are milestones in achieving juvenile justice. Ground-level improvements always outshine the governmental policies. Parents, teachers, guardians, and educationists must take up the duty to help these children to deal with criminal behavior and rehabilitate and reintegrate into mainstream society.
