Young offender and Juvenile

Justice Act, 2015.

Meaning of Juvenile Delinquency
 Delinquency has been derived from the Latin word delinquer
which means 'to omit'.
 In simpler words it may be said that delinquency is a form of
behavior or rather misbehavior or deviation from the generally
accepted norms of conduct in the society.
 Penologists have interpreted the word "juvenile delinquency"
differently.
 Generally speaking, the term refers to a large variety of
disapproved behaviours of children and adolescents which the
society does not approve of, and for which some kind of
admonition, punishment or corrective measure is justified in
the public interest.
 Thus, the term has a very extensive meaning and includes
rebellious and hostile behaviour of children and their attitude of
indifference towards society.
 Certain other acts such as begging, truancy, vagrancy,
obscenity, loitering, pilfering, drinking, gambling etc.
which vicious persons very often commit are also
included within the meaning of the term juvenile
delinquency .
 It may therefore, be inferred that a juvenile is an
adolescent person between childhood and manhood or
womanhood, as the case may be, who indulges in some
kind of anti-social behaviour, which if not checked,
may turn him into a potential offender.
 Caldwell prefers to leave the term vague and includes
within it all acts of children which tend them to be
pooled indiscriminately as wards of the State.
 Ruth Cavan observed that "irrespective of legal
definition, a child might be regarded as delinquent when
his anti-social conduct inflicts suffering upon others or
when his family finds him difficult to control and he
becomes a serious concern of the community."
 Some critics argue that the statutes defining the
various delinquent acts are
CAUSES
 Juvenile delinquency is become a global phenomenon
 There is a growing tendency among youngsters to
be arrogant, violent and disobedient – hence there
is a considerable rise in Juvenile delinquency.
 No one is a born criminal. The various circumstance
both inside and outside of the house of the child play a
significant role in shaping one’s life.
 The most common causes which associate with
delinquent crimes are poverty, child abuse, mental
conflicts, adolescent instability, drug abuse, abusive
parents, family violence and anti-social peer group.
1. Poverty
 As far as India is concerned poverty is one of the major cause,
because
of which children inclines themselves towards criminal acts.
 Poverty forces a child to get involved in criminal acts.
 The vast majority of those arrested and convicted belong to
poor economic status.
 Poverty engenders antisocial activities in many ways.
 Unsatisfactory human relations have been frequently seen to
emanate from destitution and poverty.
 As poor people have lower mental resistance
due to undernourishment and poor physical
health.
 They live in slum and the neighborhood and the environment is
not adequate as they have no other choice in the selection of
residential locality.
 This leads to poor circumstances as the child are
driven to seek their recreations on the streets.
 The budgeting problem fuels up the quarrels between
the husband and wife and thus they are not able to give
proper attention and care to their children though
they have affection for them.
 Further, because of lack of money, the reasonable
demands of school going children are mocked and
education eventually suffers.
 Poverty does different things to different people, like
for some its pressure can cause anti-social
behaviour.
2. Industrial Development and Economic growth.
 Has resulted into urbanisation which has given rise
to lot of problems such as housing, slum dwelling,
overcrowding, lack of parental control and family
disintegration.
 High cost of living – both the parents work and
therefore children are neglected at home without
any parental control.
 Temptations for luxurious life also lures youngsters
to resort to wrongful means to satisfy their
wants.
3. Disintegration of family system
 Disintegration of family system and laxity in parental control
over children is yet another potential cause of increase in
juvenile delinquency.
 Natural consequences of broken homes, lack of parental
control, absence of security and want of love and affection
towards children, contribute to juvenile delinquency.
 Once a child feels neglected, he is bound to go astray and
this furnishes a soothing ground for juvenile
delinquency.
 The children need affection, protection and guidance at home
and therefore, they have to be handled very carefully. Greater
emphasis should be on preventing them from indulging into
criminality rather than curing them after they have
committed the offence.
The parents and other elderly members of the family must
provide adequate opportunities for their youngsters to
develop their
personality.This is possible through proper education, training and
child care.
 Through the years, one of the most common cause of
juvenile delinquency is the parental inadequacy, i.e.
their role in upbringing of the children.
 The early family training can help in inculcation of the
values and norms which makes the child aware of the values
of the society and acquires characteristic of it.
 The children must have the knowledge about the actions which
are permitted, prohibited and the reason behind that too.
He/she must know how to get along with others, i.e. other
children and adults. Depending upon the pattern of how the
child is handled and who is the role model in the family the
child starts to learn the basic responsibilities, i.e. inside and
outside the house.
4. Biological Factors
 Biological factors such as, early physiological maturity or low
intelligence, also account for delinquent behavior among juveniles.
 The biological causes are instrumental in imparting
particular character traits in every child who grows up into
an adolescent and finally into an adult.
 Many studies concerning the age of juveniles have shown that
rates of offending begin to rise in preadolescence reaches the
peak at late adolescence and it is carried on till adulthood.
 In adolescence, there are various changes in the body and
of a child accompanied by different hormonal changes that
have a physiological and psychological impact on a
child.
 Biological causes that are responsible for delinquent behavior in
a child include excessive strength in an adolescent and when
the energy remains aimless and directionless can prove to be
harmful to the person himself and the people around him.
 Various other biological factors are responsible for
encouraging the children to commit crimes at tender ages
such as ocular ailment which is a retinal disease and can lead
to permanent loss of vision. It causes irritation and anxiety
thus hampering the child from living a moral life, other
problems like headache, auditory inability, speech problem,
throat and nose problem, hypoglycemia caused by a low level
of sugar in blood interrupts the normal functioning of the
brain can also result into deviant behavior by children
suffering from the same.
5. Migration
 Migration of deserted and destitute boys to slums
brings them in contact with anti-social elements
carrying on prostitution, smuggling of liquor or
narcotic drugs and bootleggers.
 Thus, they lend into the world of delinquency
without knowing what they are doing is
prohibited by law.
 6. Influence of Social Media
 Social-media today is having more negative than positive imprints on young
minds.
 There is a growing concern that the social-media which undoubtedly inform,
educate and entertain have become a source of contamination in child’s mind.
 It tends to provide sensational information about the crime, i.e. the types
and techniques of the weapons. And this further leads to children either
committing the delinquent act with vengeful mindset or they tend to
educate their companions about the same.
 Motion movies show that the crimes are exciting and tend to show that
there are ways in which the law can be eradicated. The prime culprits are
those films and programs loaded with violence and vulgarity.
 This type of violence and vulgarity alleges to induce viewers for
committing rapes, robbery, assault or murder. In India, a developing
country where the literacy level is low these types of actions have more
impact on the general attitude and behaviour.
7. Societal Causes
 Children’s interaction and communication with the societal environment in
which they live in influences their behavior to a great extent and it
may be responsible for instilling antisocial and delinquent behavior
in them.
 Societal causes may include cultural conflicts which arise due to the
mass exodus of people and results in violence between the immigrants and
migrants.
 The peer group of which the child is a part has a great impact on the
individual development of their personality. If a child accompanies bad
people who are deviant he will be more he is more likely to indulge in
criminal activities.
 The school atmosphere also plays a great impact on children as a child
spends most of his time there. School is an institution designed to avoid
delinquency in children but when the school fails to perform its duty then
it turns into a major contributor to the development of delinquency in
the society.
JUVENILE JUSTICE IN INDIA
 India like any other country, also seeks to tackle the
problem of juvenile delinquency on the basis of three
fundamental assumptions :-
i. young offenders should not be tried, they should rather
be corrected;
ii. they should not be punished but reformed;
iii. exclusion of delinquents i.e. children in conflict with
law from the ambit of Court and stress on their
non-penal treatment through community based
social control agencies such a Juvenile Justice
Board, Observation Homes, Special Homes etc.
History of Juvenile Justice Law in India
 Prior to the enactment of the Juvenile Justice (Care
and Protection of Children) Act 2000, the Juvenile
Justice Act 1986 was the governing law on the
subject.
 Before this Act was introduced , the Children Act,1960
was operative through out the country. The States were,
however, authorised to enact their own law s' for the
care and protection of the delinquent children and
juveniles.
 Children Act, 1960
 A perusal of the working of the Children A ct, 1960
(subsequently repealed by J.J. Act, 1986) would indicate that
greater attention was required to be given to children who were
found in situations of social maladjustment, delinquency or
parental neglect.
 The justice system as available for adults was not considered suitable
for
being applied to juveniles.
 It was deemed necessary that a uniform juvenile justice system
should be introduced through out India which would take into
account all aspects of the social, cultural and economic changes in
the country.
 There was also need for greater involvement of informal systems
and community based welfare agencies in the care, protection,
treatment, development and rehabilitation of children and
juveniles.
 The Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 (repealed by J.J. Act, 2000).
 replaced the earlier Children Act, 1960.
 Aimed at giving effect to the guidelines contained in the
Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile
Justice adopted by the U.N. countries in November 1985.
 The Act provided for the care, protection, treatment,
development and rehabilitation of neglected delinquent
juveniles and for the adjudication of certain matters
relating to, and disposition of delinquent juveniles.
 The main objectives of the Act were as follows :-
1. It laid down a uniform framework for juvenile justice in
the country so as to ensure that no child under any
circumstances is lodged in jail or police lock-up.
2. Led down machinery and infrastructure required for the care,
protection, treatment, development and rehabilitation of various
categories of children coming within the purview of the
juvenile justice system.
3. It set out norms and standards for the administration of
justice in terms of investigation and prosecution, adjudication and
disposition, care and protection etc.
4. It sought to develop appropriate linkage and coordination between
the formal system of juvenile justice and voluntary agencies
engaged in the welfare of neglected and socially maladjusted
children.
5. It constituted certain special offences in relation to juveniles and
provided punishment for them.

The Act operated for nearly 13 years, thereafter it was repealed

and replaced by the Juvenile (care and Protection of Children)
Act, 2000. The Act was repealed by the Juvenile Justice (Care
and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection
of Children) Act, 2015.
 Recognizes two categories of juveniles.
i. Juvenile in Conflict with Law
ii. Children in need of care and protection.
A child who is alleged to have committed an offence
and has not completed 18 years of age on the date
of the commission of the offence.
One of the special feature of the J.J. Act. 2015 is that a
juvenile who has committed an offence is not
addressed as 'juvenile delinquent‘, instead he is called
a 'juvenile in conflict with law' .The object is to avoid
stigma which the word 'delinquent' carries with it, in
case of juvenile offenders .
 The trial of a 'juvenile in conflict with law' is held
by the Juvenile Justice Board which has to
consider the following issues in respect of the age of
the juvenile before proceeding with the trial
i. whether the person before it i.e. Juvenile Justice
Board, is within the prescribed age of 18 years or
not: and
ii. for the purpose of determining the age, the relevant
date is the date on which the offence is committed,
and not the date on which the juvenile is brought
before the Board for inquiry and proceedings.
 The Act mandates that no juvenile in conflict with law
shall be subjected to any harm, abuse, neglect,
maltreatment, corporal punishment or solitary
confinement.
 Further the use of accusatory words such as arrest,
remand, accused, trial, prosecution. conviction etc. in
proceedings against juveniles is strictly prohibited.
 The Act requires that the juvenile's right to privacy
and confidentiality should be protected by all
means.
 Every child bas a right to be united with his family.
 Police can arrest a juvenile offender only where he
alleged to have committed a serious offence punishable
with imprisonment of more than seven years.
 Soon after the juvenile is apprehended, he should be
placed under the care of Juvenile Welfare Officer
posted in the Police Station, who shall produce him
before the Juvenile Justice Board within 24 hours as
per Section 10(1) of the Act.
 The Act prohibits lodging of juvenile offenders in police
lock up or jail nor can he be hand-cuffed . A policeman
in uniform is not allowed to handle the juvenile in
conflict with law.
 The police is expected to gather all possible
information about the socio-economic and educational
background of the juvenile and circumstances leading to
his law violations and record it in the case diary which
is to be forwarded to the Juvenile Justice Board.
Claim or Juvenility
 The claim for juvenility can be claimed before any court
and at any stage of the proceedings and even after the
disposal of the case.
 In the case of Kulai Ibrahim v. State, the court
stated that in cases where documents mentioned are
unavailable or found to be fabricated or manipulated it
is necessary to obtain medical report for age
determination of the accused.
 In the present case, the documents were available but
they were proved to be fabricated and therefore it is
necessary to obtain medical report.
The Basis for deciding Juvenility
 The Supreme Court in Deoki Nandhan v. State of
Uttar Pradesh, held that entry in the school register
as to the date of birth of the student is admissible in
evidence to show whether the accused is juvenile or
not. Its acceptance shall however, depend on the
probative value of such entry in school, whether it was
proper or not.
 The Court further clarified that in case of difference
between school certificate and medical certificate, the
date mentioned in school certificate should be taken
authoritative because the certificate of medical officer may
be based on mere guess.
 The Madhya Pradesh High Court in its decision in
Sunil & another v. State, clarified that the Court
cannot leave the determination of age of juvenile
entirely on the evidence of juvenile, but it is required
to make an inquiry suo motu.
 In this case, lower court had rejected the bail application of
the accused on the basis of ossification test and medical
report which showed that, the appellant was not a juvenile.
 The High Court ruled that ossification test is not a
conclusive proof in the matter and it is the primary duty of
the Court to find out whether applicants are covered by the
Juvenile Justice Act or not and the Juvenile may not be able
to lead any evidence as to his exact age. "The Court must do
participatory justice and exercise suo motu powers rather
than be a silent spectator".
 Krishna Bhagwan v. State of Bihar – relevant age is the age
on the day of the commission of the offence.
 Arnit das v. State of Bihar-overruled its earlier decision, held
that relevant age is the age when he/she is brought before
the competent authority and not on the commission of the
offence.
 Conflicting views- felt a need to address this issue.
 Number of amendments of a very basic nature were
introduced in the JJ Act 2000, by the amendment of August
22, 2006. In terms of this amendment even if a juvenile ceases
to be so on or before the date of commencement of JJ Act
2000 (now Act of 20 15), the provisions of this Act shall
apply as if the said provisions had been in force, for the
purposes and all material times when alleged offence was
committed.
 Eerati Laxman v. Andhra Pradesh, held that a person
attains particular age at midnight of preceding
anniversary of his birthday, that is while calculating a
person's age, date of his birth must be counted as a
whole day and he attains a specified age the day
proceeding anniversary of his birthday. The reason being
that a day commence at 12 O'clock midnight and
continues until the same hour following midnight.
In this case the accused was born on 10-5- 1978 and the
was committed at 1 p m. on 9-5-96, he was therefore,
held to be juvenile at the of offence.
 In Salil Bali v. Union of India & anr, it was discovered
to amend the Juvenile Justice law present and to reduce
the age from 18 years to 16 years to amend the juvenile
law in such a way that the juveniles who have
committed the heinous offences like rape, sexual assualt
and murder should be tried as an adult.The Supreme
Court rejected the plea and held that the Juvenile Act is
based on sound principles and with compatibility to the
Indian Constitution. Several International Instruments
also recognize child rights like Beijing Rules, Riyadh
Guidelines that allows separate criminal justice for the
juveniles.
 In the case of Mukesh &ors v. State of Delhi ,popularly
known as “Delhi Gang Rape case ” or “Nirbhaya case”
the apex court refused to grant the harsher punishment
on the account of the heinousness of the conduct and
tried him as a minor. One of the rapists was a minor
at the time which gave him a security from harsh
punishment which led to questions, outrage amongst the
public seeking justice which led the court to think about
it all over again.
Preliminary assessment into heinous
offences by Board.
 Sec. 15.
In case of a heinous offence alleged to have been committed by a
child, who has completed or is above the age of sixteen years, the
Board shall conduct a preliminary assessment with regard to his mental
and physical capacity to commit such offence, ability to understand the
consequences of the offence and the circumstances in which he
allegedly committed the offence, and may pass an order in
accordance in accordance with section 18.
Provided that for such an assessment, the Board may take the
assistance of experienced psychologists or psycho-social workers
or other experts.
For the purposes of this section, preliminary assessment is not a trial,
but is to assess the capacity of such child to commit and
understand the consequences of the alleged offence.
Where the Board is satisfied on preliminary assessment that the matter
should be disposed of by the Board, then the Board shall follow
the procedure, as far as may be, for trial in summons case under the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
Children in need of Care & Protection
 A child who is found without any home or settled
place of abode and without any means of subsistence
or who is neglected by his parent or guardian or does
not have parent or no one is willing to take care to take
care of him/her or who is likely to be abused, tortured
or exploited or who is found vulnerable and is likely to
be induced in drug abuse or trafficking or who is a
victim of armed conflict , civil commotion or natural
calamity.
 Act empowers Government to constitute child
welfare committees .
 Establishment of Children’s Home.
 Act also provides for establishment of Shelter Homes
for destitute and shelter less children.
Juvenile Justice Board
 Section 4 – of the JJ Act, 2015 - provides for
constitution of the Juvenile Justice board.
 Objective – to keep juveniles away from
accusatory procedure and to provide child friendly
environment.
 The Board shall consist of a Principal Magistrate and
two social workers, one of them should be women.
 Petty cases can be tried by summary trial and grave
offences due process of enquiry is to be followed.
 SPECIAL PROCEDURE OF THE BOARD.
 Differs from ordinary trial.
i. The proceedings cannot be initiated on a complain by the
police of any citizen .
ii. Hearing is informal and strictly confidential.
iii. Juvenile offender while in detention should be kept in
separate observation home.
iv. The young offender may be reprimanded on security or bond
for good behaviour.
v. The trial of juvenile in conflict with law is usually conducted by
lady
Magistrate specially deputed for the purpose.
vi. The procedure followed in the trial of juvenile in conflict with
law being informal, he has no right to engage the services of a
lawyer in the case.
vii. No appeal lies against the order of acquittal made by the
Juvenile Justice Board in respect of a juvenile alleged to have
committed an offence. An appeal shall, however, lie against the
order of the Board holding the juvenile guilty of an offence to
the Sessions Court within a period of 30 days whose decision
shall be final and there shall be no second appeal.
 Sanjay PrasadYadav v. State of Bihar, the Court was
called upon to decide whether a juvenile (accused) who
is found guilty of an offence under Section 302 and
34, IPC and ordered to be kept in Observation Home
during inquiry under the Juvenile Justice Act, has to be
shifted to jail in case he/she has crossed the prescribed
age for being treated as juvenile.
 The Court held that such a juvenile must be continued to
be kept in the Observation Home even if he has crossed
the age- limit for juvenile during the pendency of inquiry
against him and he need not be shifted to jail.
Release of a Juvenile on Bail
 Sec 12
 Juvenile in conflict with law maybe released on bail by
the officer even by the officer-in-charge of the Police
Station.
 Bail can be denied on following grounds
i. Where there is reasonable apprehension that such release
would bring the juvenile in association with other
criminals,
ii. Possibility being exposed to moral, physical
and psychological exploitation,
iii. Release would defend the ends of justice. Eg- for
offences of rape, murder, kidnapping etc.
 In Jaispal Singh Tej Singh v. Ram Avtar Devilal, the
High Court of Madhya Pradesh held Juvenile Justice
Board shall take into consideration the
i. circumstances of the case;
ii. the nature of the offence; and
iii. the character and antecedents of the accused or
juvenile as the case may be.

The Juvenile Justice Board should warn him that he shall

have to face the sentence in case he repeats the
offence or commits any other offence.
Dispositional Order
 The dispositional order means a conviction order
but in order to avoid the use of the word 'conviction'
which is accusatory, the term dispositional order
is used.
 The Juvenile Justice Board may pass any of the
following dispositional order after due enquiry
1. Admonition;
2. Group counseling;
3. Community Services;
4. Fine if age of juvenile is above fourteen years;
5. Release on probation:
6. Detention in Special Home Maximum up to three years.
Release of Juvenile on Probation
 The Juvenile Justice Board may order the release of
juvenile in conflict law on probation for good conduct
and place him under the care of his parents, guardian or
any other proper person.
 Having regard to the circumstance of the case, the Board
may also direct the juvenile to enter into a bond, with or
sureties.
 But the period of such order of release on probation shall
not three exceed years. Besides, the Board may order
the placement of juvenile in a Special but the period of
such placemen
 Board is also empowered to place the juvenile under
the supervision of the Probation officer for a period
not exceeding three years and the probation officer shall
submit timely report about the reformation progress of
the Juvenile.
 On the basis of the report, if the Board feels that the
Juvenile is not keeping good behavior or difficult to
keep him in control – Board can order that the
Juvenile be send back to Special Home.
HOMES
 The Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 proides three types of
Juvenile Homes where the juvenile in conflict with law
may be kept.
1. Observation Home.- juvenile to be kept during trial.
2. Special Home.- after the completion of the trial.
3. Place of safety – Juveniles who are more than 16
years of age serving detention order.

In Sheela Barse v. Union of lndia, the Supreme Court

had observed that the statutory provisions provide that
children should not be kept in jail. A large number of
children and juveniles were still lodged in jails.
Crimes against Juveniles and
Penalties for them
 Sections 74, 75 and 76 respectively of JJ Act, 2015 – deals
with cruelty to juvenile, employing them for begging or
giving him intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug or
psychotropic substance without prescription of a qualified
medical practitioner etc.
 Besides, Section 79 prohibits utilization of juvenile or child for
any hazardous employment or withholding of his earning and
makes the contravention of this provision punishable with
imprisonment which may extend to three years and fine.
 The Juvenile Justice Board shall take cognizance of violations
under Section 99 either suo motu or on a complaint by
someone whereas the cognizance of offences falling under
Sections 74 to 79 of the J J . Act. 2015 shall be taken by the
Board on a police report or a private complaint.