Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A(Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D
Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V.(P.G) College, Roorkee, India
Children are greatest national asset and resource. Children should be allowed and provided opportunity to grow up to become robust citizens, physically fit, mentally alert and morally healthy, endowed with skills and activations needed by the society. Children are expected to be obedient, respectful and imbibe virtues and good quality in them. Due to various reasons children do not follow settled social and legal dictum.
In recent years, it has become very clear that juvenile delinquency is the most important aspect of the subject matter of criminology. Delinquent behaviour has assumed serious forms among the juveniles, which is a sign of sick society. The disorder and destruction due to deviant behaviour, a worldwide phenomenon, is assuming alarming proportions.
The word delinquency is derived from the Latin word “delinquere” meaning de i.e. away and linquere i.e. to leave thus, meaning to leave or to abandon. Originally, the word had an objective meaning as it referred to parents who neglected and abandoned their children. In present day, it is used and applied to those children who indulge in wrongful and harmful activities.
Juvenile can be defined as a child who has not attained a certain age at which he, like an adult person under the law of the land, can be held liable for his criminal acts. The juvenile is a child who is alleged to have committed /violated some law which declares the act or omission on the part of the child as an offence.
Juvenile and minor in legal terms are used in different context. Juvenile is used when reference is made to a young criminal offenders and minor relates to legal capacity or majority.
In India, until passing of Children Act, 1960 there was no uniformity regarding age limitation of juvenile delinquent. Bombay Children Act 1948 defined “Child” to mean a boy who has not attained the age of sixteen years or girl who has not attained the age of eighteen years
Definition of Juvenile
The age criteria for being a juvenile vary from country to country, state to state. In ancient India, a parent was supposed not to punish a child who is under five years of age for any offence. As per the law then prevailing a children of such tender age should be nursed and educated with love and affection only. After the age of five, punishment may be given in some suitable form such as physical chastisement or rebuke by the parents, towards the later half of the childhood, punishment should be gradually withdrawn and replaced by advice. From the age of sixteen upwards sons and daughters should be treated as friends by the parents. Some Smritis, like the Brahd-Yama and the Sankha say that a boy over five and less than eleven, if guilty of some Patakas such as drinking Sura, has not to undergo penance personally but his brother, father or other relations or friends have to undergo for him and that if a ‘child is less than five, then whatever the act may be, it is not deemed to be a crime nor a sin and the child is consequently not liable to any punishment or prayaschita.
Definition of Delinquency
Delinquency is an act or conduct of a juvenile which is socially undesirable. Juvenile delinquency generally means the failure of children to meet certain obligations expected of them by the society. The juvenile delinquent has even been defined as “a child trying to act like a grown up”.
In fact there is a haze of vagueness and confusion surrounding the definition of juvenile delinquency and there is no single definition that may be acceptable to all.
The juvenile delinquency is expression of unsatisfied desires and urges. For a delinquent, his deviant act is a normal response to his inner desire. Like a non delinquent a delinquent is also conditioned by various attending and prevailing circumstances around him. A juvenile delinquent is a person who has been so adjudicated by a judicial court though he may be no different from other children who are not delinquent. Delinquency is an act, conduct or interaction which is socially undesirable.
The concept of delinquency also varies with the point of view of the people who feel challenged by it.
According to a social worker, “delinquency consisted of socially unaccepted acts”. A psychiatrist suggests that delinquent behaviour is activity which deviates from the normal. And a lawyer would say juvenile delinquency is what the law says it is.
In the words of W.H. Sheldon, it is “behavior disappointing beyond reasonable expectation”.
Cyril Burt says, delinquency occurs in a child ‘when his antisocial tendencies appear so grave that he becomes or ought to become the subject of official action.
According to Robison Holt, “we use the term delinquent as we sometimes use the term ‘love’ as though it were a simple concept whereas it actually embraces complex patterns of behaviour.”
Delinquency, it is clear, is many things to many people. The man in the street is concerned chiefly with behaviour that interferes with his property, his person and his rights. He believes that the official label of delinquency is attached only when the behaviour is really harmful and has occurred repeatedly.
Frederick B. Sussmann presents a summary list of acts or conditions included in delinquency definition or description, viz, violation of any law or ordinance, habitual truancy, association with thieves, vicious or immoral persons, and incorrigible beyond control of parent or guardian and so on.
Thus the term delinquency does not have a fixed meaning. However, there are two generally accepted approaches to the interpret ation of the term, viz the sociological and the legal.
The sociological view gives a liberal interpretation to the term delinquency. This view is well expressed by the definition given by Clyde B.Vedder who says, ‘juvenile delinquency refers to the anti-social acts of children and of young people under age. Such acts are either specifically forbidden by law or may be lawfully interpreted as constituting delinquency, or as requiring some form of official action. It means deviation from the normal behaviour.
According to Robison the legal term “delinquency” is an umbrella for a wide variety of socially disapproved behaviour that varies with the time, place and the attitudes of those assigned to administer the law. This behaviour may include such acts as , incorrigibility, disobedience, lying, running away from home, frequent visits to the cinema, visiting places of ill repute and coming home late at night, habitually remaining truant from school, habitually using vile, obscene or vulgar language in Public Place, immoral conduct around school.
It will also include a child who is homeless, destitute and neglected. In short, delinquent in the sociological view is a child whose activities cause concern and alarm to parents and teachers and others responsible for his care and education.
Classification of Juvenile Delinquency
Different classifications of the juvenile delinquency and delinquents have been given by various authors. A few important classifications are noted below.
Hirsh delineated the following kinds of juvenile offences:
(1) Incorrigibility, which includes keeping late hours, disobedience,and so on.
(2) Truancy, which can be from home or school.
(3) Destruction of property, which includes both public and private property.
(4) Violence which is perpetrated against the community by using such means as knives and guns.
(5) Sex offenses which can range from homosexual activity to criminal assault and rape.
Eaton and Polk classified the delinquents by the following types of offences they have been involved in:
(1) Minor violations which include disorderly conduct and minor traffic violations.
(2) Property violations which include all property thefts except automobiles.
(3) Major traffic violations which include automobile theft and drunk driving and any other offence that would involve an automobile.
(4) Human addiction which includes sex offenses as well as alcohol and drug addiction.
(5) Bodily harm which includes homicide offenses that involve sexual deviation,; such as rape, and generally, all other acts of violence against a person.
Ferdinand presented two categories of juvenile offenders as under:
(1) Neurotic Offenders-They are the offenders whose delinquency is the result of powerful unconscious impulses which often produces guilt which in turn, motivates them to act out their delinquency in their community so that they will be caught and punished. The delinquent act is sometimes considered symbolic. For example, if they steal, it is done for love and not for a material gain. To such delinquents, delinquency is a way of handling their internal problems by externalizing the problem within the environment.
(2) Character Disorder Offenders- This type of offenders feel very little guilty when they commit the acts of delinquency. Because of a lack of positive identification models in their environment, they have failed to develop self-control and do what they want to do when they feel like doing it. They are unable to sublimate their impulses in a socially acceptable manner. They have not developed an adequate conscience structure or superego. They come from disorganized families and have had a barren environment in their childhood. They are self-centered and feel to be aloof and have difficulty in forming meaningful relationships.
Schafer emphasized on psychological typologies and psychological dynamics of personality as the basis of classification of juvenile delinquents. The following types have been envisaged by him.
(1) Mentally Defective- This is an individual who has an organic problem and who has difficulty in controlling himself because of it. This category also includes mentally retarded youngsters.
(2) Situational Offenders- They are similar to the accidental offenders but, in these cases, there are more contributing factors. Their delinquency is precipitated by a crisis or by some external event which they are unable to handle. In other words, they do not necessarily go out looking for trouble but because of tempering circumstances, they do not use good judgment.
(3) Psychotic Offenders- A small number of youngsters do not have contact with reality. They may be classified as schizophrenic or may be given some other psychiatric label. As a result of dysfunctional thought patterns, they may hallucinate, have delusions or “hear voices” that command them to become involved in certain types of delinquent behaviour. The incidence of psychotic oriented delinquency is minimal in relation to the other forms.
(4) Cultural Offenders- Youngsters in this category have either emulated a faculty identification model or they live in an economically and socially deprived environment. Cultural offenders are considered normal members of a deviant sub-culture and their patterns of behaviour are often accepted and called normative in their own environment.