JUVENILE JUSTICE AND PROBATION OF OFFENDERS UNDER THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

Juvenile. What do you picture when you hear juvenile? A young boy or girl, plausibly in their teens going to high school? A pick pocketer? Or a rapist?

A juvenile means an adolescent, who is, premature or underdeveloped. Think of how a lump of clay can be molded into a beautiful vase. Similarly, a child’s mind can be either reformed into something momentous or something adversarial, while it is still malleable. Juvenile crimes in India are snowballing at an alarming rate, which begs the question – Are we shaping their minds the right way?

According the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the number of rapes committed by juveniles shot up by 143 percent from the year 2003 to 2012. In that very decade, the kidnapping of girls and women by minors proliferated by 500 percent. Shockingly, the educated ones are those who committed crimes more than those who were illiterate. On the contrary, juveniles who fall under the illiterate category caught for delinquency decreased by 20 percent. While there are several factors that contribute to such circumstances, education is one of the most important ones. At this juncture, it is vital to understand and revisit the quality, source and direction of education being provided to these children.

Parents and family play a very crucial role in the character development of a child. When the family fails to instill a healthy conscience within the child, it has adverse effects on his growth as a responsible individual. The absence or redundancy of love and attention from family members, discrimination between siblings, history of substance or sexual abuse or even physical abuse leads them to committing heinous crimes as a form of rebellion. Financial constraints too may drive them to performing acts of crime. Poverty and crime go hand in hand. When the family fails to fulfill the child’s needs, they resort to criminal activities. Employers engaging and dealing with illegal practices find it easier to persuade such children into working for them.

Peer groups too can highly influence the tender minds of children and render them incorrigible. These groups are usually friends of the same age group who are unable to understand the severity of the repercussions of their behavior. Children who feel distant from their families are more prone to be swayed by their peers. Hence, it is the responsibility of the parents to stay connected with their child and ensure that they have the necessary guidance to choose their friends.

The juvenile justice system in India believes in reformation as opposed to penalization. Rigorous sentencing will only exacerbate the situation and deviate the focus from rehabilitation in society. The age factor is paramount when judging the intensity of the crime. A child under the age of seven years is incapable of committing a crime. For the children between ages of seven to fourteen, the mental capacity to commit a crime is debatable. The court will take into consideration the nature of the crime, history of violence of the accused and also the intentions with which they have committed the crime. This is discussed in greater detail in the ensuing paragraphs of this article.

Juvenile Justice Act, 2015

The Act also replaced the word juvenile to child with the aim of eliminating the negative connotation associated with it.

A child is a person who is yet to turn eighteen. The Act classifies the child into two categories:

i) Child in conflict with law

The Juvenile Justice Act 2015 replaced the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 with the objective to amend the law regarding children in conflict the law. The foremost and most significant change being the amendment that allows ‘juveniles’ (16 years or above) to be tried as adults for heinous offences like rape or murder. Heinous offences are those for which you can be sentenced for seven years or more.

The Juvenile Justice Board has the option to transfer the case to the Children’s Court after a basic assessment that measures the child’s mental and physical capacity of committing the crime.

The intensity (petty, serious or heinous) and nature of the crime is also considered. The Act also has a provision for settling the children in a place of safety until the age of 21, after which an evaluation is conducted by the Children’s Court commensurable with the child in conflict with law.

ii) Child in need of care and protection

• In the Act of 2015, the definition of a ‘child in need of care and protection’ had been expanded, such that it includes a child who is:

• Found working in a condition that contravenes labor laws, or

• Who abides with a person who has threatened to injure, exploit, abuse or neglect the child, or

• Whose parents or guardians are unfit to take care of him/her.

A child in need of care and protection will be placed in a Children’s Home for care, treatment, education, training for reformation and rehabilitation. The Act provides for Open Shelters for Children in need of community support for a short period for protecting them from abuse or keeping them off the streets. The Child Welfare Committee may recognize a facility to be a Fit Facility to temporarily take the responsibility of a child. The Specialized Adoption Agency is responsible for taking care of the rehabilitation of orphans, abandoned or surrendered children.

The rehabilitation, protection and reformation of a child is the fundamental objective of a Children’s Home. The child care Institution prepares Individual Care Plans for children in need of care and protection or children in conflict with law, through family-based care. A child leaving a child care institution on attaining 18 years of age may be provided with financial support.

Probation of Juvenile Offenders

Probation is an instrument of treatment for offenders. It maybe considered as a trial period where the convict is released from prison but is still under the supervision of the court. The convict has a chance to suspend their sentence by consistently demonstrating good behavior and convince the court that they are no more a threat to society. It is a way of the court to ensure that the offender can acclimatize to the society under conditions regulated by the court.

Under Section 360 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, when any person who is below the age of twenty-one, is convicted of an offense which is not punishable with death or imprisonment for life, and no previous conviction is proved against such person, the court may, having regard to the age, character and antecedents of the offender, and to the circumstances in which the offense was committed, order release of the offender on probation of good conduct for a period not exceeding three years, instead of sentencing him to any punishment. First offenders cannot to be tried in a criminal court through the usual procedure. Instead, they are to be dealt with and corrected through treatment. The aim is to separate the young offenders from more rugged criminals so that they are not exposed to relapsing tendencies.

The Case of Nirbhaya (2012)

Certainly, everyone remembers the Nirbhaya rape case of 2012. A case that has scarred our minds forever. The one that stood out. The one after which we decided – No more. The mere thought of which sends shivers down my spine even today. A gang rape case; one of the prime suspects of which was a juvenile – Mohammad Afroz. According to reports, he was the most brutal amongst all the accused. His case was debated across India and many argued that he should be tried as an adult for being guilty of a heinous crime.

Since he was below the age of eighteen, he was sent to a Correction Home where he showed no signs of improvement. Three years later, he was released and now works as a cook for a roadside eatery. After receiving strong condemnation from the masses, the Juvenile Justice Act was enforced in 2016, according to which, juveniles of age 16-18 years would be sentenced as adults for heinous crimes while considering their mental capacity of executing these crimes.

Education as an Instrument to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency

Education is not just circumscribed to schools and academics. Education starts from home, and thus, it is imperative for us to understand the significance of proper parenting. Parents should be provided with adequate training on how to educate their children on morals, ethics, integrity, drugs, sex, violence, etc. The parents must make the children aware of their actions and repercussions. In a time where children are being swamped with violent and sexual images on the internet, it is the responsibility of the parents to offer a helping hand of guidance and correction.

Since a child spends so much of their time at school, it is only reasonable to assume that their behavior and the environment at school are correlated. Thus, it is safe to say that the school system plays a consequential role in the social attributes of a child. Firstly, schools must seek a proactive approach to bolster the students’ psychological assets and self-esteem, giving them the resources to succeed and resist antisocial behavior. Secondly, they should also focus on the continued rational and moral development of students by increasing their awareness about the dangers of substance abuse, violent behavior and delinquency in general. The teachers must also be cognizant of the students who might need help. Counselling sessions must be made available and approachable for such students.

Conclusion

You know how you have to carefully water a sapling? If the water is too less, it will shrink. If it’s too much, the soil is washed away, demolishing the entire foundation that holds it together. While love and attention for a child works in a similar way, it is necessary to also correct the child from time to time.

The amendment of the Juvenile Justice Act remains an ethical debate, but the primary essence remains the same. Reformation over castigation, while it is still possible. This gives them a second chance to correct and rehabilitate themselves as a respectable member of the society, if redemption is a journey they are willing to embark upon.