By Pragya Mathur, Advocate at Lex Credence May 23, 2024
Introduction:
Children should be allowed and provided with an opportunity to grow up to become robust citizens, physically fit, mentally alert, and morally healthy, endowed with skills and activations needed by society.
There is a juvenile justice system that treats juveniles differently than adults because our society believes juveniles are different from adults, both in terms of level of responsibility and potential for rehabilitation. Although there is concern with public safety and holding juvenile offenders accountable for their actions, there is greater emphasis on rehabilitation than on punishment in the juvenile justice system. Rehabilitation means to restore someone to a useful life through therapy and education.1
In today’s world children are a major stakeholder of this technology-driven society and it affects their day-to-day life in the same way as an adult. The peer pressure which is engulfing society these days is resulting in increased visibility on social media platforms. This article delves into the legislative measures available within the system, educational rehabilitation measures, impact of technology on juveniles to conclude and give recommendations for stepping forward.
Legislative Scheme:
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 is the primary legal framework for juvenile justice in India. The act provides for a special approach towards the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency and provides for children in need of care and protection of law.
The treatment of a child is different from adults. If a child commits any crime, the main focus is to rehabilitate the child rather than punishing him. Rehabilitation is the process where the child is provided with expert advice to deal with the situations. The child is given proper guidance to tackle the circumstances. The child is provided with the probation officer for some time after being rehabilitated. The main purpose behind this is to keep an eye on the child to prevent him from doing any further crime.
Chapter VII of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 talks about reformation and rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents. Sec 39 talks about child welfare wherein the court tries its best that the reformation process of the child is family-oriented. Family can be very influential on a child and thus it can motivate the child to overcome delinquent behavior. However, the drawback of this section is that the under-trial juvenile and convicted juvenile or habituated under-trial juveniles reside together in an observation home. A child’s mind is easily influenced and keeping convicts and under-trials in the same vicinity can be dangerous as the juvenile may end up communicating with convicted juveniles or habituated under-trial juveniles who may influence a child to pick up new bad habits which the child did not have earlier or develop new criminal tendencies.
Sec 44 provides for foster families. They are similar to adoptive families. They take care of the kid for a certain time and provide for the necessities of the child. This can be a good reformative technique. The child gets a safe atmosphere to reform, and some childless families may gain a child.
The main problem faced by juveniles in India is due to the bad administration of the justice system. To cover up this particular problem, the Juvenile Justice Board has granted some powers to the different authorities. These authorities do not have proper knowledge about the law related to the child. This indicates the need to create more juvenile justice boards that have a special knowledge about the law related to the child.2
It is pertinent to note that orders that can be passed against a juvenile are not by means of punishment but for the purpose of reformation and rehabilitation within the folds of society. The Juvenile Justice Act has adopted one size fits all kind of sentencing scheme, wherein the board has recourse to the same set of sentencing options regardless of the crime committed by the juvenile. Therefore, regardless of the gravity of the criminal conduct of the juvenile, the child is subjected to same set of reformatory procedures which are general in nature. The need rather is to understand the cause that triggers criminality in an individual and devise a specialized treatment for him.3
Educational Rehabilitation of Juveniles:
The educational rehabilitation program has been started; to provide hope and a path to success to the juvenile offender. They can explore other things and see the realities of a better life for themselves and seek a life with prosperity and good health. For that education is a fundamental inhabitant of any juvenile rehabilitation program.
One of the methods used to address the concerns and needs of the youth offenders is individual counseling. Juveniles are teens who through a series of serious hormonal and physiological changes and problems which need to be addressed with a particular degree of care which is available only in individual counseling. Family counseling adds another dimension to this rehabilitation program. The family members are known to motivate the youth and they help the youth to come out of their current situation and prosper.
Impact of Technology on Juveniles:
Social Media platforms have engulfed our society and children are no exception. The peer pressure which is engulfing society these days is resulting in an increased visibility on social media platforms. These social media platforms do not differentiate between a child and an adult and therefore children also have access to all the information to which an adult has access.
Cyber fraud and various other cyber crimes are committed by juveniles who are using technology for their wrongful gains. Various types of cyber-crimes committed by juveniles are cyber frauds, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, identity theft, drug trafficking, digital piracy, cyber suicides, cyber theft, illegal; hacking etc. Apart from these known cybercrimes daily new crimes are committed by means of technology.4
If we evaluate the reason behind the increasing cyber delinquents in India, the main amongst them would be unawareness of the outcome of trivial acts. Children who are unable to apprehend their steps on the basis of cost-benefit analysis usually fall into the trap of committing cybercrime.
Conclusion
The article can be concluded by saying that a juvenile is in need of care and protection and catering them their basic needs through proper care, protection, development, treatment, social re-integration and adoption of a child-friendly approach is in the best interest of such juveniles.
The present legal system needs changes in order to prevent and control the commission of cyber crimes. In case minors turn into cyber criminals then they should not be treated the same as a minor who commits any other crime. For this, it is important that our legislature understands the peculiar nature of cyber crimes. Some of such crimes are committed out of unawareness and inquisitiveness without knowing the consequences and some other cyber-crimes are pre-planned and involve a lot of preparation. Therefore, cyber criminals should be treated as a separate category.
We cannot uproot this menace but there are solutions to keep control of the problem of Juvenile Delinquency. In the best interest of the delinquent, he or she should be rehabilitated as early as possible and integrated back into society.
Some basic steps that should be taken to prevent child delinquency include increasing awareness among parents. First of all, it is important to identify children who are involved in a conflict with the law and then try to give them proper treatment. The treatment should be given on a regular basis so that these children will not become habitual in committing such offences.
Recommendation:
- There should be awareness programs for internet safety guidelines in schools and colleges to reduce cyber-crimes among juveniles.
- Parents and teachers need to ensure that the home and school is a safe space for the child, and they are able to share bullying or peer pressure incidents when necessary. Often these children feel helpless and end up committing crimes in passion.
- Proper sex education is also necessary for teenagers by their parents and medical professionals. Sex is a taboo in our society and often these juveniles are inspired by movies and try to imitate the same out of curiosity.
- Mental health in India is still a taboo. However, a child is weak-minded, and they can suffer from trauma due to certain changes in life. Their mental health should be considered during trials.
- There can be no straight jacket formulae for reformation. The same things cannot work for all the children. The court, with the help of medical professionals and psychologists can set up a plan for the reformation of these juveniles according to the causes of their crimes.
The article represents the personal views of the author.
- S. Chetan Bohra and V. Udayavani, “Right to Development of a Child and Juvenile Justice Act“, Volume 120 No. 5 International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, 2905-2922 (2018). ISSN: 1314-3395.
- Simran Ahuja, “Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency”, Vol 2 Issue 5 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) 951 (2018), ISSN: 2456-6470.
- Utkarsh Yadav,” Juvenile Justice System at a Crossroads: Assessing the issues and challenges in the Juvenile Justice Scheme in India”, Vol. I, No 1 Galgotias Journal of Legal Studies (2014), ISSN. 2321-1997.
- Astha Srivastava and Shivangi Sinha, “Cyber Delinquency: Issues And Challenges Under Indian Legal System”, Volume-8 Issue-5C, International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology 1426 (2019), ISSN: 2249 – 8958.