KLE College of Law, 4th Floor, Plot No 29, Sector 01, Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai – 410218.

Certificate
Class : S.Y.LLB Year : 2020 - 2021

This is to certify that the research work carried out by

Ms. Nirmiti Ganesh Urankar (Roll No:-48) who has worked for the IV Semester of
the Second Year LL. B Course for the academic Year 2020 – 2021

This is to certify that the research work entitled of Subject Criminology – Research submission on
(A study on the impact of family and neighborhood on Juveniles in India) Which is being submitted
by Ms. Nirmiti Ganesh Urankar, as Internal Assignment for the IV Semester of the Second Year
LL.B Course for the academic Year 2020 – 2021 is an independent and original research work carried
out by her.

Ms. Nirmiti Ganesh Urankar has worked under my guidance and supervision to fulfill all
requirements for the submission of this research work.

The conduct of student remained excellent during the period of research.

Date:- 10.04.2021 ________________________

Place: – Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai Prof. Ms. Laxmipriya

Page 1 of 35
KLE College of Law, 4th Floor, Plot No 29, Sector 01, Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai – 410218.

Plagiarism & Copyright Declaration Form

Name of the Student : - Ms. Nirmiti Ganesh Urankar

Roll Number and Class : - 48 and S.Y.LLB

Submitted to Teacher Name : - Ms. Laxmipriya

Topic Name : - A study on the impact of family and neighborhood on Juveniles in

India

This is to certify that I, Ms. Nirmiti Ganesh Urankar, have done all the work applying original efforts
in my Research work titles – A study on the impact of family and neighborhood on Juveniles in India
submitted to KLE Society’s KLE College of Law for the Internal Assignment in the subject of
Criminology. Submitted to Ms. Laxmipriya on 10.04.2021. The Research work presented is
absolutely free from plagiarism and copyright infringement. If any violation of copyright or plagiarism
occurs, it would be my sole responsibility.

Date : 10.04.2021.

Place : NAVI MUMBAI. Signature

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

SR. NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

1. Acknowledgement 4

2. Declaration 5

3. Abstract 6

4. Introduction 7-8

5. Historical development of Juvenile justice Regime 9

in India

6. Theories Regarding Juvenile Delinquency 10

7. Factors responsible for Juvenile Crimes 11-14

8. Trends in Juvenile Delinquency in India-Statistics 15-18

of Juvenile Crimes in India
9. Juvenile Justice in India 19-20

10. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of 21

Children). Act, 2000 and the Amendment Act of
2006.
11. Social factors responsible for increase in Juvenile 22-25
Crimes in India

12. Landmark Judgment in Juvenile Cases 26-27

13. Major Findings, Recommendations and

Suggestions and Conclusion:
28-30
• Major Findings
• Recommendations and Suggestions 31-33
• Conclusion
34

14. References 35

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 Acknowledgement:

Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Ms.

Laxmipriya Mam for the continuous support of my study and research, for her
patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. Her guidance
helped me in all the time of research. I could not have imagined having a
better advisor and mentor for my research.

I respect and thank Ms. Laxmipriya Mam for providing me an opportunity to

do the project work in this situation and giving me all support and guidance,
which made me complete the project duly. I am extremely thankful to her for
providing such a nice support and guidance, although she had busy schedule.

The success and final outcome of this project required a lot of guidance and
assistance from her and I am extremely privileged to have got this all along
the completion of my project. All that I have done is only due to such
supervision and assistance and I would not forget to thank her.

I am thankful to and fortunate enough to get constant encouragement,

support and guidance from all Teaching staffs of KLE College of Law which
helped me in successfully completing my project work.

(Nirmiti Urankar)

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 Declaration

This research project is a presentation of my original research work. The

contributions involved and efforts made are only by myself to indicate this
clearly, with due reference to the literature, and acknowledgement of
collaborative research. The work was done under the guidance of Professor
Mrs. Seema Harikumaran, at the KLE College of Law, Kalamboli.

I, Nirmiti Ganesh Urankar, in my capacity as student of the college, I certify

that the above statements are true to the best of my knowledge.

Signature:

Date: 10.04.2021

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 Abstract:

This study/ research paper examined the study on the impact of family and
neighborhood on Juveniles in India. This research is designed to grasp the
proper information related to the Juveniles in India and their effect on socio-
economic India. The research is expected to benefit our next generation so
that they will be able to gather proper knowledge.

The justification for the study arises from the fact that India is home to the
largest child population in the world. Children are the future of any nation and
as per our country’s National Children Policy, are our most precious asset. For
a strong nation to grow, it is required that children have normal and robust
upbringing, and bottlenecks are properly identified. Mr. Nelson Mandela,
former President of South Africa and Nobel peace laureate, once observed that
there can be “no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it
treats its children”.

Juvenile crime is one of the most important issues in criminal law today. Young
people violating the rules and disturbing the social order, attract the attention
of the Law Enforcement as well as Social Control agencies.

Informal and formal control stakeholders like parents and family on one side
and legal institutions like police, courts or prisons on the other have a superior
interest in a law-abiding behavior of the next generation. Juvenile misbehavior
is, on the whole, not perceived as an imminent danger to society, but as a
potential risk for the development of the individual and society alike, which
has to be treated in a positive, empowering way. In contrast to criminal justice
against adults, juvenile justice is governed by the rehabilitative ideal as the
underlying legitimating for intervention.

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Introduction:

Juvenile delinquency is one of the most important issues in criminal law today
and a matter of perennial public concern. Juvenile crime traditionally refers to
criminal acts committed by persons under the age of eighteen years. If one
includes status offenses, such as consuming alcohol, smoking, being truant
from school, running away, and violating curfew, that are crimes only because
the person committing them is underage, then the majority of youth might at
some point be classified as delinquent offenders. Non status offenses are much
less common.

The Central Government’s resolve to change the law and treat juveniles
specifically in the age group 16-18 years as adults in heinous crimes has come
amidst the release of some disturbing figures by National Crime Record Bureau
(NCRB) of India which show significant jump in juvenile crimes especially in
Delhi. National Crime Records Bureau’s data shows that in the past decade,
the rate of juvenile offences has steadily increased. Its latest report published
in 2015 reveals that while the Juveniles cases in conflict with the law were
19,299 in 2004, it has risen to 33,526 in 2014. Percentage of Juveniles cases
to total cognizable crimes was 1.0% in 2004 which rose to 1.2% in 2014. Rate
of crime under cases of Juveniles in conflict with law rose from 1.8% in 2004
to 2.7% in 2014.

After Nirbhaya rape case in New Delhi on 16.12.2012, an opinion has built up
in India that juvenile mock the law and if they are indulging in serious crimes
like rape and murder, they should be treated stringently like adult criminals.
The latest report of India’s National Crime Record Bureau published in 2015
reveals that the rate of juvenile offences has steadily increased in the past
decade from 1.8% in 2004 (19,929 cases) to 2.7% in 2014 (33,526 cases).
The juvenile misbehaviour is on the whole, not perceived as an imminent
danger to society but as a potential risk for the future development of
individual and society alike. In contrast to criminal justice against adults,

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juvenile justice is governed by the rehabilitative ideal as the underlying
legitimation for intervention.

Researchers generally agree that a number of factors play an important part

in a youngster’s delinquencies. We can divide these factors into two groups:
individual factors and situational factors. The former includes personality traits
like submissiveness, defiance, hostility, impulsiveness, feeling of insecurity,
fear, lack of self-control and emotional conflict while the latter may be sub-
divided into five groups: family, companions, school environment, movies and
work environment.

Many theorists consider family as the most significant factor in the de-
velopment of juvenile delinquency. Class status, power group relations and
class mobility, are also directly or indirectly related to the family environment.

Juvenile delinquency is multifactorial with risk factors operating at multiple

levels namely individual, micro environment and macro environment levels.
The objective of this study was to determine the effect of family factors on
juvenile delinquency.

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Historical development of Juvenile justice Regime in India

Prior to 1850 there was no such legislation enacted to look after the cases
related to juveniles. In 1850, the first legislation was passed in form of
Apprentice Act, this act constitutes the provisions related to vocational training
to convicted children. Soon after that Indian Penal Code, 1860 was passed
according to which an absolute immunity was given to the child under the age
of 7 from criminal liability under section 82 whereas section 83 provides partial
immunity to child of the age group 7- 12 years. Above 12 years were treated
as adult under this Act. But the threat was that sending the children to the
ordinary jail might result in bad consequences. Hence, Reformatory School
Act was enacted in 1897 which provided for the constitution of Reformatory
schools for young persons (boy not above than 15 years). Further Children
Act, 1960 was enacted and various states enacted their local children acts to
deal with delinquency.

The time demanded uniform law to be enacted to govern juvenile delinquency

and hence in year 1986 the Juvenile Justice Act and which was recently
amended in year 2015 Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act which
extends to whole of India except state of Jammu and Kashmir. This act
provided for the establishment of one or more juvenile justice board for
exercising the powers and discharging its functions related to children who are
in conflict with law.

According to this act, passed in 2015 by Lok Sabha has new clause that if a
juvenile of 16 years or above commits some Heinous Crime, he may be tried
as an adult. The juvenile Justice board will determine whether the juvenile is
fit to be tires as an adult based on the findings of a preliminary inquiry and
the period of preliminary inquiry will be of 3 months.

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Theories Regarding Juvenile Delinquency

1) Classic theory (Rational choice theory): According to this theory, people are
rational and they used to make calculated choices regarding what they are
going to do before an act. Juvenile delinquents before committing any
crime, firstly they collect information regarding particular event then
process and evaluate information about the crime and after weighing the
benefits of such crime they decide to commit such act.

2) Social Control Theory: This theory is considered as the most important

theory of sociological theory in regards to juvenile delinquency which lays
its foundation on the ideologies of Thomas Hobbes and in 20th century
criminologist expanded his ideologies and concluded that without control
children would break law. As per this delinquency is expected behaviour of
juveniles. The main purpose was to prevent the crime among juveniles at
very first instance.

3) Social bond theory: According to this theory, human being is connected to

society by four elements- attachment, commitment, involvement and belief.
Stronger the bond of attachment, likely the youth will commit less crimes.
Once juveniles are committed towards their career and get involved in
education hence the chances of their involvement in crime gets less.
Through various research it has been reported that children who had strong
bond with their parents and knows the importance of ‘Values’ and ‘Beliefs’
are less likely to become delinquent.

4) Anomie theory: According to Robert Merton, the main reason behind the
delinquency among juveniles is the lack sources to attain their goals and in
order to attain such goals they fail to analyze wrong and right method get
involved in activities contrary to law of the land.

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Factors responsible for Juvenile Crimes:

A. Social Factors:
Sometimes, the juveniles develop delinquent sub- culture due to cultural
deprivation and status frustration that they go through (Albert Cohen,
1955). They often adopt the delinquent tendencies due to peer pressure.
According to Walter B. Miller (1958), some youth (usually belonging to
lower class) turn the mainstream culture up- side down, thus whatever is
valued and is regarded as positive generally by the is society given up by
these youth, and is replaced by just the opposite value system. Thus, if
certain morals are upheld by society, juvenile delinquents give up these
values and try to excel in the areas of toughness, over- smarting the others
and indulge in things that give them excitement (defined as focal concerns
by Miller). The youth may become criminals if they have opportunities to
learn illegal activities. They may indulge in acts of street brawls and
hooliganism if the lack these opportunities, or are not able to excel in the
area of organized crime. Other studies indicate that social factors such as
poverty and low education are also responsible for juvenile delinquency.
Habits of substance abuse also make the youth vulnerable to offending.
Broken families are directly related to higher rates of delinquency. The
report indicates that the juvenile who receive less familial supervision, or
who live in dysfunctional family settings or in disadvantaged families have
more chances of getting involved in delinquent behaviour.

1. Broken homes:
The home may be broken up by death of one or both of the parents, or
by prolonged illness, insanity, distortion or divorce. Interaction in home
is a very important means for socializing the child. The mother plays
vital role in this regard. If she divorces her husband or deserts him or
dies, the growth of the child will be affected. Such a child loses not only
mother’s love but also parental control and becomes an easy victim to

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 the outside anti societal influence. It can’t, be said that broken home
invariably leads to delinquent behavior and the part of the children.

1. Poverty:
A very large proportion of delinquent children come from poor homes.
It is generally, although not anonymously, accepted by professional
students of juvenile delinquency that the vast majority of delinquents
come from the lower class. Poverty compels sometimes both of the
parents to be outside the home for a very long period to earn their daily
bread. The children will be uncared by them. Such children may
consciously or unconsciously join hands with gangsters and become
delinquents. This mostly happens in slum areas and areas in which
mostly working-class people live.

2. Delinquency areas:
It is said that some areas are highly vulnerable to delinquent trends.
Long ago Cyril Burt (1925, pp.12-18) in his study showed that there are
certain areas in London from which the majority of delinquent children
come. The delinquents mostly come from areas of poor housing,
overcrowding and the areas in which cinema houses, hotels, night clubs,
liquor shops are found in a large number. It is true that when a family
is living in the heart of the town the chances are greater for the children
of such families to pick up delinquent behavior. It is to be noted that not
all the children living in the delinquent areas are delinquents.

3. Companions and gangs: Antisocial and criminal conduct by members of

juvenile gangs is not a new phenomenon. Early immigrant groups
arriving in this country frequently found themselves located in the worst
slums of urban areas, and gangs soon emerged. As the child grows
older, he goes into the neighborhood and becomes a member of the play

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 group or peer group. According to C.B.Mamoria (1965, p.278) wrote his
book with the title “Social Problems and Social Dis-organization in India”
stated that Charles Shaw has opined that “delinquency is a product of
community forces”. In cities, in slum areas peculiar social groups called
‘gangs’ are found. Generally the gang starts as a playgroup. In the
absence of playground facilities, the children will start playing in streets
and finally organize themselves into gangs. The gang has all the
qualities, such as loyalty, co-operation, social solidarity and unity. These
gangs are found to be associated with crime in all its aspects like
delinquency, rioting, corrupt politics, and so on. Children coming from
poor families and broken families easily become the victim of gangs.

4. Beggary:
Beggary is often the cause of juvenile delinquency. Child beggars mostly
come from either very poor families or broken homes. The children are
betrayed of the needed love and affection of the parents. They crave for
the satisfaction of their inner impulses, desires and ambitions. They
choose to become beggars for the same. As beggars they get annoyed
to see others enjoying life. Some of them may even become rebels. The
realize that only through deviant practices, they can satisfy their desires
and meet their needs. They thus become delinquents. (Hirsh, N., 1937).

B. Psychological Factors:
There are psychological explanations to delinquency also, which can be
well understood through Freudian concepts of id, ego and super-ego. When
the id (the instinctive element of individual’s personality) becomes too
strong, and the super- ego becomes weak (the socially taught element of
personality) the ego develops into anti- social person (K. S. Williams
2012). Sometimes when the self- control and social control through
primary groups becomes weak, the juveniles develop delinquent

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 tendencies. There can a strong link between psychological condition of the
youth and delinquent tendencies. David Brandt (2006) has extensively
talked about the social and psychological factors responsible for
delinquency in India. Under the social factors it has been noted that the
social environment has a strong impact on deviating tendencies of the
juveniles. Amongst these neighbourhood ties and social organization can
be important determinant in the delinquent behaviour of the juvenile. This
is highlighted in the study conducted by He Len Chung and Laurence
Steinberg (2006). The study indicates that when the neighbourhood ties
are weak and the social organization factors are not effective, the social
control over the members of the society becomes weak, thus leading to
delinquent tendencies. Along with the weak neighbourhood, ineffective
parenting and association of the youth with deviant peers leads to higher
rates of offending.

C. Biological Factors:
The biological explanations suggest that individuals are influenced by their
biological/ genetic make- up. They are not exactly the captives of biological
designing, but it does render these individuals inclined towards delinquent
tendencies. The hormonal changes in the body of the juveniles are
responsible for their impulsive and rebellious behaviour. Ecological/
environmental and economic parameters also play important trigger points
in lives of the juveniles. But usually, it’s the combination of these factors
that together creates situation of juvenile delinquency.

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Trends in Juvenile Delinquency in India: Statistics showing Juvenile Crimes in
India:

For the purpose of understanding the nature and magnitude of juvenile

delinquency in India, an analysis of the statistics published by the National
Crime Records Bureau has been made. This section of the report includes the
incidence of delinquency over the period of time, types of offences committed
by a Juvenile;

• Incidence of juvenile crimes (under IPC) during 1999 – 2010 (all over India)

Year Incidence Changes over the previous year (in

percentage)
1999 8888 -
2000 9267 4.3
2001 16,509 78.2
2002 18,560 12.4
2003 17,819 -4.2
2004 19,929 11.8
2005 18,939 -5.0
2006 21,088 11.4
2007 22,865 8.4
2008 24,535 7.3
2009 23,926 -2.5
2010 22,740 -5.0

Source: Crime in India Statistics (2010)

Table shows the incidence of IPC Crimes from the year 1999 to 2010. It is
clear from the figures that there was a steep increase in the incidence of crime
from the year 2000 (incidence; 9267) to 2001 (incidence 16509). Such a

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significant difference in the incidence of crimes may be due to change in the
definition of a juvenile. That is, the age of considering a child delinquent
changed from 16 years to 18 years. It should also be noted that over a period
of 8 years (2001-2008), there was about 50 percent increase in the total
incidence of crime. However, there was a slight decrease in the incidence of
crime in 2009 when compared to 2008. Also, there was a 5 percent decrease
in the incidence of juvenile crimes in the year 2010 when compared to 2009.

• Incidence of crime by juveniles under different IPC Crime heads during 2010
(all over India)

Crime heads Number of Cases Percentage (%)

Murder 679 3.0
Attempt to commit 543 2.4
Murder
Burglary 2271 10.0
Theft 4930 21.7
Riots 1081 4.6
Hurt 3800 16.7
Rape 858 3.8
Kidnapping & Abduction 524 2.3
Robbery 551 2.4
Molestation 546 2.4
Other IPC Crimes 6958 30.6
Total 22741 100.0
Source: Crime in India Statistics (2010)

Table provides the number of cases under different crime heads committed
during the year 2010. It is seen that the children were involved in almost all
the major forms of crimes. Nearly one-third of the cases in which the children

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were involved are property crimes. That is, out of total 22,741 cases, more
than 34 percent (Theft: 21.7%; Burglary: 10.0% and Robbery: 2.4%) of the
cases are property crimes. The children were found to have indulged in various
major forms of IPC crimes including murder, attempt to commit murder, riots,
hurt, rape, kidnapping, abduction, molestation and so on.

• Cases registered against juveniles in conflict with the law and crime rate
under IPC during 2003-2015
Year Cases Registered
Against Under total % cases of Rate of crime
juveniles in cognizable juveniles in under cases of
conflict with IPC crimes conflict with juveniles in
the law law to total conflict with the
cognizable Law.
crime
2003 17819 1716120 1 1.7
2004 19229 1832015 1 1.8
2005 18939 1822602 1 1.7
2006 21088 1878293 1.1 1.9
2007 22865 1989673 1.1 2
2008 24535 2093379 1.2 2.1
2009 23926 2121345 1.1 2
2010 22740 2224831 1 1.9
2011 25125 2325575 1.1 2.1
2012 27936 2387188 1.2 2.3
2013 31725 2647722 1.2 2.6
2014 33526 2851563 1.2 2.7
2015 31396 2949400 1.1 2.5
Source: NCRB

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Explanation

As per the data regarding incidence and rate of juvenile delinquency under
IPC, it can be concluded that since 2003- 2015 the number of cases registered
against those juveniles which are in conflict with the law has increased from
17819 in 2003 to 31396 in 2015 which means percentage cases of juveniles
in conflict with the law had shown variation from 1% to 1.1%. Since 20013 to
2015 cases registered against juveniles has increased by 1.8 times. Despite
of various legislation enacted by the legislature, crime among juveniles is
increasing at an alarming rate

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Juvenile Justice in India

In India the idea of juvenile justice was originally limited to the criminality of
child offenders only particularly for the non-serious property offences like
theft, burglary and other minor crimes like riot and ordinary breach of peace.
Thus, non- criminal children in unfortunate circumstances were excluded from
the ambit of juvenile justice.

However, the Enactment of the Apprentice Act, 1850 that gave power to the
court to bind over the children of poor and destitute as apprentice in newly
established factories indirectly gave the power to control the lives of the vast
sections of the poor children. It was followed by Reformatory Schools Act,
1987. The Indian jail committee (1919-1920) brought to the fore the vital
need for square trial and treatment of young offenders. Its recommendations
prompted the enactment of the children act in Madras in 1920. This was
followed by Bengal and Bombay act in 1922 and 1924 respectively. The three
pioneer statutes were extensively amended between 1948 and 1959.

In 1960 at the Second United Nations Congress on the prevention of crime

and Treatment of offenders was held at London and the issue on children was
discussed and some therapeutic recommendations were adopted and based
on this the central enactment, the children Act, 1960 was passed by the
Central Government which was applicable to all the States and Union
Territories.

Thereafter, juvenile courts, observation Homes and Certified/approved

schools were started in various districts of the states. In states where there
were no observation Homes the delinquent children were remanded first in
police lockups. “The Law, in the past, has lashed the child, not loved it,
whatever its pretensions….. A correction informed by compassion, not
incarceration leading to degeneration, is the primary aim of juvenile justice.

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Regrettably, our juvenile justice system still thinks in terms of terror, not cure,
of wounding, not healing, and a sort of blind man’s bluff is the result.” Justice
V.R. Krishna Iyer has in those words succinctly summed up the pitfall of the
juvenile justice system in our Country.

Under the children’s Act, 1960 no provisions were made for ensuring the
maintenance of standards in education and vocational training provided for
the children in the correctional institution. Majority of the homes were
overcrowded and ‘neglected children’ were not segregated from “juvenile
offenders” but are herded together in less than hygienic conditions. Very
serious lacuna was that majority of the states has no homes and the
delinquent children were incarcerated in the jails along with the adult
offenders. (Report of All India Committee on Jail Reforms, Vol. II, 1980-83,
Government of India).

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The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children). Act, 2000 and the
Amendment Act of 2006.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, was brought
in to force on April 1, 2001. However, certain provisions of this act were
challenged before the High Court of Delhi through public interest litigation.
The High Court of Delhi also observed that some of the provisions of the above
Act needed re-considerations. In the light of the observations made by the
High Court of Delhi, it was proposed to carry out amendments in some sections
of this Act.

Accordingly, an amendment Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in July 2003.
Thereafter, the Lok Sabha referred the amendment Bill to the parliamentary
standing committee on labour and welfare for examination and report
submission. But the Lok Sabha was dissolved before the standing committee
submitted its report and as a result the amendment Bill lapsed. Before re-
introducing a fresh considered it necessary to revisit the amendment
proposals again along with other suggestions received by the standing
committee from various experts.

The suggestions and views of all those concerned were obtained on the
proposed amendments and based upon such suggestions and views it was
proposed to make amendments in the provisions of Juvenile Justice (care and
protection of children) Act 2000, in addition to those contained in the earlier
Bill. The amendment Act enacted by the parliament in the 57th year of the
Republic of India (Act 33 of 2006) was notified on August 22, 2006.

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Social factors responsible for increase in Juvenile Crimes in India:

Discussion Despite various legislations, the crime among juveniles is

increasing day by day. Once we considered that the main cause for such acts
of children is poverty but on analyzing data of past 12 years i.e., from 2003-
2015 there are some shocking results not just because of low income but due
to the lack of education and supervision children are prone to such acts.

According to Dr. Rajesh Kumar: “Across socioeconomic and educational

groups children are affected by parents not spending quality time with them
and by an increasingly competitive world” 12 Lower middle-class families
nowadays are busy in making money and when their children grow up they
didn’t find themselves attached to anyone and they do what they feel good,
ignorant of the consequences of such act.

In middle class families parents put forward their expectations to the child
especially high grades in school, which often leads depression when they fail
to meet their expectations, they try to overcome their fear of failure by
different methods, unknowingly they sometimes opts wrong methods to
achieve such goals and hence such thing lead the child to abuse and then
crime and when we come to high- income families they provide their children
every possible luxury whether such things are required or not, and such
parents often fail to teach their basic principles to their children. Such children
fail to differentiate between wrong and right.

The Role of Family and Other Agencies for Cause of Juveniles Who are Charged
with Committing the Offence in spite of the fact that family plays dominating
role in the development and character formation of the juvenile, the influence
of the family (parents, guardian, siblings, relatives and etc.) and other
agencies like neighborhood, school and peer groups, medias like i.e.,
television, internet, pornographic literature etc., on the behavioral pattern of
the child cannot be totally ignored. Moreover, various studies have shown that
neighborhood influence, school environment, peer influence and media

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influence are the major determining factors of deviant behaviour among the
children. Keeping all these in view in this chapter, an attempt has been made
to study the role of families and other agencies which cause of juveniles who
are charged with committing the offence.

• Family Factors:

Family environment producing delinquent behaviour may be analysed with

reference to a broken home, family tension, parental rejection, parental
control, and family economics. A normal family is described as one which is
structurally complete (with both parents alive), functionally adequate (each
member performing his/her expected roles which reduces conflicts),
economically secure (gratifying important needs of the members) and morally
strong (each member conforming to the moral values of the culture). The
family is abnormal if it lacks any of these characteristics.

The broken family (where one parent is absent because of parental separation,
divorce or death) fails to provide affection and control to the child. Sheldon
and Glueck (1968:12) found in their study of delinquents and non-delinquents
that more than half of the delinquents studied were reared by one parent,
whereas only 10 per cent of the non-delinquents were reared by one parent.
Monahan (1957:250-58), Browning (1960: 3744), Gold Martin, Slocum and
Stone (1965), and Peterson and Becker (1965) also found that a significantly
greater number of delinquents than non-delinquents were from broken
homes.

Family tension is also a major contributing factor to delinquent behaviour.

Abrahamsen (1960:43) found that family tension results from hostility and
hatred. The youngster does not feel secure and content in the tension-filled
family environment. Long-term tension reduces family cohesiveness and
affects parents’ ability to provide a conducive atmosphere to satisfactory child-
rearing and family problem-solving.

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Parental rejection or emotional deprivation has much to do with juvenile
delinquency. If a rejected or a neglected child does not find love and affection
as well as support and supervision at home, he will often resort to groups of
a deviant nature outside the family. Studies have found that mutual rejection
of parent and child markedly affects positive relationship and can ultimately
result in delinquent behaviour.

Jenkins (1957:528-37) found that parental rejection had a direct effect on the
child’s development and growth of a conscience. He stated that lack of
adequate conscience, combined with feelings of hostility for being rejected,
led to aggression. Andry (1960:64) also has maintained that delinquents were
the recipients of less parental love both in quantity and in quality than were
the non-delinquents.

Just as a broken home, family tension and parental rejection can affect the
capability of the family structure, methods of parental control or forms of
discipline also can play a part in the development of delinquent behaviour.
The type of discipline used by parents in rearing children varies from situation
to situation and from child to child.

Emotional instability and behavioral disturbances in one or both of the parents

also lead to a child’s delinquent behaviour. The child of the parents who are
constantly in conflict often exploits the situation and gets away with a great
deal of misbehaviour.

Lastly, family economics is also an important contributing variable in

delinquency. A family’s inability to provide for the material needs of the child
can create insecurity and affect the amount of control that the family exerts
over the child, because he often seeks material support and security outside
the home. Peterson and Becker (1965) have pointed out that the homes of
delinquents are often physically deteriorated which can affect the boy’s
perception of himself and can act as a repellent, driving him away from the
home.

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• Neighbourhood:

The impact of the neighborhood on the child is more in the urban areas than
in the rural areas. After the family, the child spends a good child spends a
good part of the day in company of children in his neighbourhood. The
neighbourhood can contribute to delinquency by blocking basic personality
needs engendering culture conflicts, and fostering anti-social values. On the
other hand, it can supplement the influence of the home in the maintenance
of social values.

Congested neighbourhoods with inadequate recreation facilities deny the

natural play impulses of children and encourage the formation of delinquent
gangs. Picture houses, cheap hotels and video-halls in the neighbourhoods
become breeding places of vice and delinquency.

• Cinema and Pornographic Literature:

Movies and comic books featuring immorality, smoking, drinking and brutality
leave a strong impression on the young minds of the children and the
adolescents. Many a time, they teach the techniques of crime and delinquency.
Several children are arrested in different parts of our country for emulating
these techniques to commit thefts, burglaries and kidnapping. They claimed
to have seen such techniques succeed in the movies. These movies also
develop attitudes conducive to delinquent behaviour by arousing desires for
easy money, suggesting questionable methods for their achievement,
inducing a spirit of toughness and adventurousness, arousing sexual desires,
and by invoking daydreaming.

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Landmark Judgment in Juvenile Cases:

• Munney @ Rahat Jan Khan V. State of UP, 2006 AIR (SC) 2902:
“While challenging the order of High Court which upheld conviction U/S
302 read with Section 34 IPC and sentence of imprisonment of life imposed
by first Addl. Sessions Judge, the appellant also took a plea that he was a
juvenile as on the date of incident which took place on 11.11.78. The
appellant was convicted by Ld. ASJ on 26.02.80 and at that time Uttar
Pradesh Children Act, 1951 was applicable which afforded protection to a
child and defined a child U/S 2(4) to be a person under the age of 16 years.

The court considered the fact that appellant in his statement U/S 313
Cr.P.C. recorded on 19.01.80 has given his age as 18 years and claimed
to be studying in 12th Class which reflected his age to be nearly 17 years
at the time of occurrence. No plea that appellant was child was taken
during the course of trial or in appeal before High Court and hence it was
concluded that appellant was not child at the time of commission of
offence”.

• Pawan V. State of Uttaranchal, (SC) 2009(2) RCR (Criminal) 451

“The question is: should an inquiry be made or report be called for from
the trial court invariably where juvenility is claimed for the first time before
this Court. Where the materials placed before this Court by the accused,
prima facie, suggest that the accused was 'juvenile' as defined in the Act,
2000 on the date of incident, it may be necessary to call for the report or
an inquiry be ordered to be made.

However, in a case where plea of juvenility is found unscrupulous or the

materials lack credibility or do not inspire confidence and even, prima
facie, satisfaction of the court is not made out; we do not think any further
exercise in this regard is necessary. If the plea of juvenility was not raised

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 before the trial court or the High Court and is raised for the first time before
this court, the judicial conscience of the court must be satisfied by placing
adequate and satisfactory material that the accused had not attained age
of eighteen years on the date of commission of offence; sans such material
any further inquiry into juvenility would be unnecessary”.

• Nirbhaya vs New Delhi (Juvenile Justice Board), (2013).

New Delhi Juvenile Justice Board on Thursday, July 25. Verdict on the role
of a minor accused in the in famous December 16 gang-rape case. It is
first verdict in the December 16, gang-rape case in which a 23-year-old
para-medical student was most brutally assaulted by six persons on a
moving bus in the national capital in the year of 2012. On July 5, the
Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) presided by principal magistrate Geethanjali
Goel concluded it inquiry that began in March against the juvenile, who the
claimed was the “most brutal” of all the six accused persons. After hearing
final argument in the matter, the reserved its order. (JJB Judgment on July
25, 2013, Nirbhaya cases)

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Major Findings, Recommendations and Suggestions and Conclusion:

Major findings:

• The identification and analysis of the variables relevant to the Causal

factors leading Juveniles to be in conflict with the Law had brought out
several realities prevailing in the Homes. The result of the analysis is
presented in four chapters as socio-economic background of the Juveniles,
Nature of offences and charges, with committed by the Juveniles, the role
of families and other agencies for cause of Juveniles charged to have
involved the offence and, Life experience in Institutional care and
rehabilitation for Juveniles. Socio-economic lives of the Juveniles have a
great impact on their life.

• The age group starts from 6 years and ends up to 18 years. These age
limitations also amended by Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of
Children) Act, 2000.

• It is found out from the analysis a vast majority (97.4 percent) of the
respondents belongs to 16-18 years are male children. While female
children are very low (2.7 percent) among them, only one girl child belong
to 11-15 age group and 3 belong to 16-18 age group.

• When compare to educational status with place of residence of the

respondents was analyzed, it was found that there were out of the total
6.1 percent of the respondents are illiterates, among them 55.6 percent
of the respondents belongs to rural areas as their areas of residence and
44.4 percent of the illiterates are from urban areas.

• Among the children who have attained education level up to primary

schooling, mostly 71.1 percent of them belong to urban areas followed by
28.3 percent in the rural areas.

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• Family structure plays a vital role in the behavior formation of the child.
The data reveals that the majority of the respondents (61.9 percent) hailed
from nuclear who have families, are below 4 members and 37.4 percent
of the children’s families have 5-7 members, in their family. On the other
hand, 50 percent of the respondents hailed from families of 5-7 members
or above 8 members. So, it may be concluded that majority of the
respondents belong to nuclear families who have below 4 members
available in their family. It is clear from the study that nuclear families are
more conducive to deviant behaviour formation among the children.

• Religion also plays important role in shaping the behaviour of the

individual. A majority of the respondents (79.7 percent) belong to Hindu
religion, 10.8 percent of them came from Christian religion and a little
number of children (only 9.5 percent) belongs to Muslims. Caste-wise
analysis of the respondents shows that majority of them belong to most
backward class (30.4 percent) followed by backward class (27 percent)
and remaining 24.3 belong to scheduled caste and 18.2 percent of
respondents belong to other caste category. The study clearly illustrates
that the respondents belonging to Backward Class and Most Backward
Class categories constitute a significant part of the sample.

• A vast majority (64.2 percent) of the respondents who have been charges
with committed the offences came from families having of both parents
(Father and Mother). 17.6 percent of them were brought up by their
mother, while 10.8 percent of the respondents were brought up by their
fathers. Only 11 among the 148 children are reported to have lost of both
parents. It is found out from the study that most of the respondents hail
from the normal family and nurtured by both the parents. When analyzing
the separation of respondents’ parents, a vast majority (56.1 percent) of
the children are living with their both parents (Father and Mother), who

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 shared a cordial relationship between them before the respondents were
brought to the homes, only 8.1 percent of the children’s parents were
separated. Remaining 35.8 percent of the respondents are not applicable
to above data, because they had either lost one or both of their parents.

• The occupational details of parents of Juvenile in conflict with the law

shows that nearly 70 percent of the children are the wards of wage
earners. 11 children’s have lost their parents and these children are grown
up in children homes and do house hold work at the homes of wealthy
people. Only 5 children reported that their parents are unemployed.

• The educational status of the respondents’ parents portrays that 30

percent of the parents of the respondents are illiterates. 41.9 percent of
the respondents’ parents studied up to primary education. Only 10 (6.8
percent) respondents are grown up by guardian since their birth i.e.,
children’s home, relative’s family and doers of house hold work.

• As far as economic condition of parents of the respondents is concerned

42 percent of the children came from poor economic condition of their
parents (or) family. Around 47 percent of the children belong to normal
economic condition of their parents (or) family and also only 5.4 percent
of the respondents came from rich back ground.

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Recommendations and Suggestions:

Recommendations:

• Children shall be given proper education, to avoid delinquency among them.

• School dropouts should be given proper guidance regarding anti-social

behaviour

• Proper Rehabilitation centers need to be opened with motive of transforming

the delinquent into better human.

• Person looking after those delinquents shall provide them healthy

atmosphere.

• Parents should look after their child properly and they need to create lovable
surroundings at home.

Suggestions:

1. Training should be given to the parents who are not able to adjust with
their children’s behavior, by the family counselors.

2. Create the awareness about the moral education and behavioral

changes among the school children by the school teachers, NGO’s,
counsellors.

3. Creating and inspiring team work of private and public agencies to

prevent the increasing delinquency.

4. Giving preparatory training to the members and staff of all organizations

concerned with delinquency control.

5. Establishing child guidance clinics to give appropriate treatment to the

disturbed and mal adjusted children in schools and all local areas
especially rural and slum areas.

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6. Counselling center in every school should be established for early
detection and care of the problematic children in the school.

7. General awareness programmes should be launched for educating the

family to motivate the children in developmental activities.

8. Proper healthy recreational facilities should be provided in rural areas

and slums so that the children may channelize their energies in the right
directions and neutralize the criminal tendencies.

9. Giving proper assistance to under privileged children to build them with

good character.

10. Improving the social environment – slum areas, devoid of gambling

centers to prevent children from getting polluted.

11. Special police force can be introduced in every district to deal with
juvenile in conflict with law.

12. Government and NGO’s should motivate the religious priests to regularly
visit the every home, which has dealt children in conflict with the law.

13. Parents should pay sincere attention to children in order to know

everything about them, especially their concentration about the new
media (Internet mobile phone, pornographic literature, face book, etc.

14. Media organization should be more aware on promoting children-based

programme especially developing moral education.

15. Censorship also needs to scan out the unwanted scene/ sequence in
children programmes and others.

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16. Advertisements and advertisement agencies should take special note on
delivering a product in a proper way to attract the children not to make
them violent.

17. Academicians especially Sociologists, Criminologists and Students are

needs to give special attention to study and research dealt with juvenile
in conflict with the law for preventing delinquent behaviour among the
children.

18. Government and legal expert should may possibility to amended the age
limitation of juveniles from 18 to 16, because most of the heinous
offences like murder and rape also committed by 16-18 age category.

19. The government must provide all the facilities to the discharged children
for their socio-economic rehabilitation for they may be provided the
reservation in government jobs and loan facilities for self-employment.

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Conclusion:

It is concluded by the study that due to the low social status and poor income
levels of the families; majority of the parents could not educate themselves
properly and were illiterate or functionally literate. Similarly, the juvenile
delinquents had a high school dropout rate. More than 70% of them belonged
to lower primary or had studied up to only upper primary level. Due to lack of
adequate education of parents and themselves, the juvenile delinquents were
tempted to indulge in such peer activities which were not in conformity with
acceptable social norms. More than half of the juvenile respondents (56.67%)
were involved in some work or job to add income to their families. This is an
indicator of the poor economic standards of the family to which they belonged.
Majority of the respondents (56.67%) were interested in playing outdoor
games followed by 21.67% interested in indoor games. This is further an
indicator that given the satisfactory comfort level, they would rather spend
their leisure time in playing games rather than working in some kind of a job
or indulging in acts of inappropriate nature. Most of the parents due to their
poor economic levels were pre-occupied with work and could devote little time
to their children. For the same reason, most parents put pressure on the
juvenile delinquents to sacrifice their education, ambitions and dreams for the
sake of their siblings. Most of the parents were aware that their children were
in bad company but only 50% of the parents knew that they had started
smoking or taken up the habit of drinking or that they were involved in
gambling. The responses from all such parents to such deviations were either
physical punishment or scolding but they did not give any time for counselling
of their children.

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References:

www.legalservicesindia.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.scc.in

www.manupatra.in

www.indiankanoon.in

www.lawsisto.com

www.blog.ipleaders.in

www.lawctopus.com

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