juvenile conflict with law

Though the report is very informative regarding the socio – economic background of the juvenile delinquents, it has certain flaws. Though it specifies the percentage of juveniles who came from families, it does not specify what kind of families and the kind of relationship they share with their families. It also fails to specify whether or not these families themselves have a criminal background or not. These are a few pertinent questions that needed to be answered because as shall be seen in the next section family background plays a very significant role as a causal factor of this problem. It must also be remembered that a plausible reason why juvenile delinquency is not seen so oft in the upper income strata of the society could be because the law enforcing agencies like Police dances to the tunes of money – a possession no upper income strata family shall relent in losing to save their heirs from acquiring a criminal record early in life.

Equipped with the knowledge of the extent to which the dreadful enemy has spread its tentacles and illuminated by a valuable record on the socio – economic background of the apprehended delinquents, it is now fruitful to observe the causal factors of Juvenile Delinquency.

Causal Factors of Juvenile Delinquency

There has been many studies done on juvenile delinquency for last two centuries and many theories are propounded upon these studies and ach theory emphasis on single factor behind criminal causation. These theories can be grouped under four genoric structures namely:

• Philosophical attempt to understand and unearth the causal phenomena that provides reason for every crime causation
• Physiological understanding showing that crime is fundamentally based on biological reasons
• Psychological understanding of the problem explaining that in ever crime causation there remains a psychological reason
• Sociological explanation of the problem attempting to co relate a social phenomenon with every criminalistic action.

This paper shall attempt a holistic view towards all these approaches and shall not refrain from adopting any of the approach if it seems to provide an explanation to the ‘Why’ of Juvenile Delinquency.

Psychoanalysis And Criminality

Modern psychoanalysis began with the work of Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939). A number of different ideas are drawn together under psychoanalysis, but the general stand point is that inner, dynamic forces are used to explain human behavior. Psychoanalytical theorists perceive criminal behavior to be the result of some mental conflict of which the criminal may be virtually unaware. Furthermore, they claim that this conflict is always present as an internal conflict between the demands of reason and conscience, and those of instinct. A victory for instinct can lead to thoughts and deeds, which will often be socially unacceptable. Everyone experiences this conflict, but some manage to control instinct better than others. If the conflict is not resolved in a socially acceptable way, it may be expressed in ways, which are criminal. The behavior will tend to get worse unless the resolution of the conflict is helped or treated. Criminality is then seen as one of the outward signs of the disease, or of the problematic resolution of the mental conflict, just as physical deformity may be the manifestation of a physical disease.

Freud split the personality into three parts:

1. Id
2. Ego
3. Super Ego

The Id is an unconscious area of mind and the most primitive portion of the personality from which the other two are derived. It is made up of all biological urges – to eat, drink, excrete, to be warm, to be comfortable and to obtain sexual pleasures. It is driven by desire. It woks on the pleasure principle irrespective of the consequences and is illogical. It characterizes the unsocialised and unrestrained individual. It’s drives need instant gratification and has no conception of reality. It is the part of the personality with which one is born. It holds all the desires even those society considers wrong or bad, and to that extent Freud says it needs to be repressed. The repression or control of the Id is carried out by the Ego and Super Ego.

The Ego does not exist at birth, but is something the individual learns. It is largely conscious, although some of it is unconscious. It tempers the desirous longings of the Id with the reality of what might happen if it is not controlled, and it also learns the reality of how best to serve the Id.

The Super Ego is largely part of the unconscious personality. It may contain conscious elements, for example, moral or ethical codes, but it is basically unconscious in operation. It is the conscience, which exists in the unconscious areas of mind. The super ego characterizes the fully socialized and conforming member of the society.

The theory explains Juvenile Delinquency as a vast majority of delinquent acts can be explained by the presence of an unduly strict superego or an unduly weak super ego because or an unduly weak Ego which will lead to ‘victory’ of Id.

The most important influences on the individual are the precepts and moral attitudes of the parents or those in loco parentis. These are the people most loved, most respected and most feared. They are also the people with whom a child has his or her earliest contacts and relationships. These are essential to the child. The super ego is often seen as the internalized rules and admonitions of the parents and through them, of society. The super ego acts on the ego; thus when a child desires a biscuit it may not take one even if it could not be punished because the child starts to reprove itself. The super ego may therefore praise and punish the child in the same way as the parents do and so the child slowly learns an inner set of rules or values. If the behavior of the child lives up to the thoughts of the Super Ego, it experiences the pleasant feeling of pride but if they do not the child’s own Super Ego punishes it by self-reproach and feelings of guilt.

The Ego therefore has two masters, each to be obeyed and each pushing in different directions. The Id demands pleasure, the super ego demands control and repression. The result is inner conflict, which can never be fully resolved. Freud agreed that for the super ego to develop, the parents scold the child to become anxious that their love will be removes. The next time the child considers a ‘bad’ deed; he or she will feel anxiety that the parents may leave. The anxiety is unpleasant and leads to repression of the deed. As the child does not understand the difference between thought and action, the mental desire is also repressed in case the parents discover it: thoughts as well as deeds become repressed. The basis of control or repression is therefore seen as built upon relationships with parents or those in loco parentis. This means that pathogenic family patterns may be responsible for Juvenile Delinquency. This conclusion derived from the Psychoanalysis theory is supported by various sociological studies. It is the appropriate time now, to refer to these studies.

Of the various pathogenic family patterns that have been emphasized in the research on juvenile delinquency, the following appear to be the most important.

• Broken homes.

A number of investigators have pointed out to the high incidence of broken homes and multiple parental figures in the background of delinquent youths. In general, delinquency appears to be much more common among youths coming from homes broken by parental separation or divorce than from homes broken by the death of a parent.

As we have seen, however, the effects of broken homes vary greatly. Even when the disruption is due to parental separation or divorce, that when he is raised in a home torn by parental conflict and dissension.

• Parental Rejection And Family Discipline

Here reference is not made to broken homes but to homes where one or both parents reject the child. When the father is the rejecting parent, it is difficult for a boy to identify with him and to use him as a model for his own development. In an early study of 26 aggressively delinquent boys Bandura and Walters (1963) delineated a pattern in which father rejection was combined with inconsistent handling of the boy by both parents. To complicate the pathogenic picture, the father typically used physically punitive methods of discipline thus augmenting the hostility the boy already felt towards him as well as modeling aggressive behavior. The end result of such a pattern was found to be a hostile, defiant, inadequately socialized youth who lacked normal inner controls and tended to act out his aggressive impulses in antisocial behavior.

Similarly, Shainberg (1967), in a study of 1500 young ‘military delinquents’ (primarily servicemen who had been A.W.O.L), reported that 90% of them had severe difficulties with their fathers, whom they perceived as vague, lacking in warmth and difficult to communicate with. The relationships were so full of conflict that he had given up trying to maintain them, while the fathers, unable to communicate with o discipline their sons, had abandoned their roles in child rearing altogether. On the other hand, the sons frequently reported having had good relationships with their mothers. In this context, it is interesting to note the findings of Bacon, Child and Berry (1963) who studied the incidence of crime in 48 non – literate societies. They found a much higher incidence of theft and personal crime in societies where the family typically restricted opportunities for the young boy to identify with his father.

The detrimental effects of parental rejection and inconsistent discipline are by no means attributable only to the father. As we have seen, such behavior by either parent is associated with aggression, lying, stealing, running away from home and a wide range of other difficulties (Langer et al. 1974; Lefkowitz, Husemann, Walder & Eron, 1973; Pemberton & Benady, 1973). Often, too, inconsistent discipline may involve more complex family interactions, as when a mother imposes severe restrictions on a youth’s behavior and then leaves policing to a timid or uncaring father who fails to follow through. In a study of middle class families with a delinquent offspring, for example, Singer found that the result of such a family pattern was a building up of resentment and tension on the part of the adolescent towards the mother followed by acting out in antisocial behavior.

• Sociopath Parental Models

Several investigators have found a high incidence of sociopathic traits in the parents of delinquents – particularly but not exclusively in the father (Glueck & Glueck, 1969; Ulmar, 1971; Bandura, 1973). These included alcoholism, brutality, antisocial attitudes, failure to provide, frequent unnecessary absences from home and other characteristics that made the father an inadequate and unacceptable model. Elkind (1967), for example, cited the case of a “father who encouraged his 17 years old son to drink, frequent prostitutes and generally ‘raise hell’. This particular father was awakened late one night by the police who had caught his son in a raid on so called massage parlor. The father’s reaction was, “Why aren’t you guys out catching crooks?” this same father would boast to his co workers that his son was ‘all boy and a chip off the old block’. Sociopathic fathers and mothers may contribute in various ways to behavior of girls as well. Covert encouragement of sexual promiscuity is fairly common, and in some instances there is actual incest with the daughter. In a study of 30 delinquent girls, Scharfman and Clark (1967) found evidence of serious psychopathology in one or both parents of 22 of the girls, including 3 cases of incest and many other types of early sexual experience. These investigators also reported a high incidence of broken homes (only 11 of the 30 girls lived with both parents) and harsh, irrational and inconsistent discipline:

Scharfman and Clark concluded that the key factors in the girl’s delinquent behavior were:

1. Broken homes, combined with emotional deprivation
2. Irrational, harsh and inconsistent parental discipline
3. Patterns of early sexual and aggressive behavior modeled by psychopathic parents.

Here the interaction of pathogenic family conditions in the etiology of delinquent behavior can be readily seen.

In evaluating the role of pathogenic family patterns in delinquency, it may be emphasized that a given pattern is only one of many interacting factors. For example, the term ‘broken home’ is a catchall term to describe the absence of one or both parents because of a variety of conditions, including desertion, separation, death or imprisonment. A home may be ‘broken’ at different times, under varying circumstances, and have differing influences, depending on the individual involved and his total life situation. Consequently, the effects of a give family pattern can only be assessed adequately in relation to the total situation.

Psychologists recognize that other factors such as relationships with individuals outside the family and the general social environment can also affect the formation of the super ego. Hewitt and Jenkins (1947) categorized a group of 500 juveniles into three types:

• Inhibited, shy and seclusive (an over developed Super – Ego)
• Unsociable and aggressive (under developed Super Ego)
• Members of a socialized, delinquent gang (having a dual Super Ego).

The gang members possess a normal Super Ego with respect to the rules of the gang, which therefore they obeyed, but they have inadequate or under developed Super Egos with respect to the rules of society. The behavior of each individual gang member depends on whether or not he is with the gang. If he is, he obeys gang rules. If he is in the outside world, he feels no compulsion to obey the ordinary, everyday rules of society. Such a pattern indicates the strong influence, which the environment can exert, especially peer groups. Here again, we may refer to some sociological studies that support the theory.

Undesirable Peer Relationships

While not typically a gang experience, delinquency does not tend to be a shared experience for both males and females. In their study of delinquents in the Flint, Michigan, area., Haney and Gold (1973) found that about two thirds of delinquent acts were committed in association with one or two other persons, and most of the remainder involved three or four other persons. Usually the offender and companion or companions were of the same sex. Interestingly enough girls were most likely than boys to have a constant friend or companion in delinquency. Unfortunately, there is little research data on the effects of associating with delinquent friends or companions, and such effects probably vary, depending on the individual.

Instinct Theories and the Role of Biological Factors

The oldest and probably the best-known explanation for human aggression is the view that human beings are somehow “programmed” for violence by their basic nature. Such instinct theories suggest that human violence stems from inherited tendencies to aggress against others. The most famous supporter of this theory was Sigmund Freud, who held that aggression stems mainly from a powerful death wish (thanatos) possessed by all persons. According to Freud, this instinct is initially aimed at self – destruction but is soon redirected outwards, towards others.

A related view was proposed by Konrad Lorenz, a Nobel Prize – winning scientist. Lorenz (1966, 1974) suggested that aggression springs mainly from an inherited fighting instinct that human beings share with many other species. Presumably, this instinct developed during the course of evolution because it helped ensure that only the strongest and most vigorous individuals would pass their genes on to the next generation.

While, referring to theories that refer to aggression as an innate tendency in human beings, it is necessary to refer to Lombroso’s theory. However, Lombroso’s theory cannot be included in the category of instinct theories. He believes that criminals are born and are a throw back in the cycle of evolution.

Most social psychologists reject, or at least seriously question all these theories for the following reasons:

• Human aggression stems from a very large number of different factors; thus emphasizing innate tendencies, as a primary cause of such behavior seems inappropriate.
• In most animal species, the kind of fighting behavior described by Lorenz does not lead to serious injury or death of the combatants. In contrast, human aggression is far more deadly: each year, millions of persons are killed and tens of millions are injured in assaults by other human beings. Innate tendencies to engage in such lethal behavior make little sense from an evolutionary perspective.
• Human aggression takes a tremendous range of forms – from ignoring another person or spreading false rumors abut her to destroying the target’s property or attacking this person directly, either verbally or physically. It is hard to imagine all these forms of behavior could be the result of innate tendencies or urges.
• The frequency of instances of dangerous physical aggression, in which individuals are seriously hurt or even killed, varied tremendously across different cultures – perhaps by a factor of fifty or more.
• The rate of violence within a given culture can change drastically over time as social conditions change.

The complete rejection of the social psychologists of the view that human aggression is an innate tendency in humans or is an instinct seems to be a narrow-minded approach. While criticizing the instinct theories, the social psychologists state that in most animal species, the kind of fighting behavior described by Lorenz does not lead to serious injury or death of the combatants. In contrast, each year, millions of persons are killed and tens of millions are injured in assaults by other human beings because of human aggression. They also criticize these theories on the basis that human aggression takes various forms ranging from indifference to politics to direct verbal or physical aggression whereas in animals it is difficult to imagine such a variety of modes of aggression in animals. However, while criticizing the instinct theories on these grounds fail to take into account a very basic fact that humans have a more developed brain which in turn leads to a variety of ways of expression as well as an extraordinary ability to understand science and use it in ways either beneficial or destructive to humanity. Thus, the instinct to aggress manifests itself in more developed modes of expression than it does in humans. These theories are also criticized on the ground that the frequencies of instances of dangerous physical aggression, in which individuals are seriously hurt or even killed, vary tremendously across different cultures. Also, the rate of violence within a given culture can change drastically over time as social conditions change. However, this does not form any basis of criticism if a stand is taken that though aggression is caused due to instinct carried over by us in the evolutionary process, socialization processes can modify, control or eve perhaps eliminate this instinct in humans. This is perhaps even possible because humans have a more developed and powerful brain than any other species on the Earth. An approach similar to the one advocated above has been taken by the social psychologists in relation to the theories relating to biological factors’ contribution to human aggression. They do accept the possibility that the genetic factors play some role in human aggression. In addition, they recognize the potentially important role of biological factors in such behavior. Indeed, research findings point to the conclusion that the inability to restrain aggressive urges may stem, at least in part, from disturbances in the nervous system – for instance, from low levels of certain neurotransmitters such as serotonin hormones may also play a role in aggression. In one recent study on this topic, for example, participants completed questionnaires designed to measure both their tendencies to behave aggressively and their tendencies to behave in a helpful, nurturant manner in a wide range of situations. The researchers also obtained two measures of participants’ level of testosterone, an important male sex hormone. Results indicated that for both genders, the higher the testosterone levels, the higher the tendency to engage in aggression and the lower the tendency to engage in helpful, nurturing behavior as reported by the participants. This finding could provide an explanation for the conclusion derived from most of the studies on juvenile offenders that adolescent men are more prone to committing crimes than adolescent women.

Drive Theories

When social psychologists rejected the instinct views of aggression proposed by Freud and Lorenz, they countered with an alternative of their own: the view that aggression mainly stems from an externally elicited drive to harm others. This approach is reflected in several different Drive Theories of aggression.

Earlier the Drive Theories concentrated on several factors leading to aggression individually as a primary cause of the same. However, unlike them, the modern theories of aggression do not focus on a single factor but draw on advances in many fields of psychology in order to gain added insight into such behavior. While no single theory includes all the elements that social psychologists now view as important, one approach – the General Affective Aggression Model, proposed by Anderson (Anderson, 1997; Anderson et al., 1996) – provides a good illustration of the breadth and sophistication of these new perspectives.

According to this theory, known as GAMM for short, aggression is triggered or elicited by a wide range of input variables – aspects of the current situation and / or tendencies individuals bring with them to a given situation. Variables falling into the first category include frustration, some kind of attack from another person, exposure to aggressive models, the presence of cues associated with aggression, and virtually anything that causes individuals to experience discomfort – from excessively high temperatures to a dentists’ drill to an extremely dull lecture. Variables in the second category (individual differences), include traits that predispose individuals towards aggression, certain attitudes and beliefs about violence, and specific skills related to aggression.

According to the GAMM, these situational and individual difference variables can then lead to overt aggression through their impact on three basic processes:

1. Arousal – they may increase physiological arousal or excitement
2. Affective States – they can arouse hostile feelings and outward signs of these (example, angry facial expressions)
3. Cognitions – they can induce individuals to think hostile thoughts or bring hostile memories to mind. Depending on individuals’ appraisals (interpretations) of the current situations and on possible restraining factors.

This theory can prove extremely effective in understanding the ‘Why’ of Juvenile Offensive behavior and in providing perhaps an effective way of controlling the same too if these individual and situational variables are concentrated upon. It is thus imperative to consider some such input variables that especially affect adolescents – constituting the prime proportion of Juvenile offenders.

• Frustration:

Frustration was one of the factors that were dealt with individually by the early theorists as a prime cause of aggression. Based on this idea, a theory known as Frustration – Aggression Hypothesis was propagated. It made two sweeping assertion that:

1. Frustration always leads to some form of aggression
2. Aggression always stems from frustration.

However, it has now been accepted that such extreme stand is unacceptable and thus the hypothesis has been modified by Berkowitz (1989, 1993). According to him, frustration is an unpleasant experience, and it may lead to aggression largely because of this fact. in other words, frustration sometimes produces aggression because of a basic link between negative affect (unpleasant feelings) and aggressive behavior – a relationship that has been confirmed in many studies.

It must be added here specifically that frustration has been proved to serve a powerful determinant of aggression under certain conditions – especially when its cause is viewed as illegitimate or unjustified. This finding has pertinent relevance with the subject of study in this paper as in today’s society; adolescents are faced with various frustrating situations that are out of their control. As an instance a bright student may not be able to complete his studies because of poverty and thus feel thwarted in his progress. Such a child will experience frustration, as he has no control over the situation that is thwarting his progress. In such a case he will vent out his frustration on the society via aggression. Another example may also be the quota system in educational institutions because of which bright, intelligent and industrious students fail to get admission in colleges while others with much lower grades get admissions and also jobs by virtue of their being born in a community categorized as a Scheduled Caste or Tribe.

• Exposure to Media Violence:

Literally hundreds of studies have been performed to test this possibility, and the results seem clear: Exposure to media violence may indeed be one factor contributing to high levels of violence in countries where such materials are viewed by large number of persons”. Many kinds of evidence lend support to this conclusion. For example, in short – term laboratory experiments, children or adults have viewed either violent films and / or television programs or non violent ones; then the participants’ tendency to aggress against others has been measured. In general, the results of such experiments have revealed higher levels of aggression among participants who viewed the violent films and / or programs.

Other and perhaps even more convincing research has employed longitudinal procedures, in which the participants are studied for many years. Results of such research, too, are clear: The more violent film or television programs participants watch as children, the higher their levels of aggression as teenagers or adults.

In today’s society adolescents are continually exposed to violence via television programs, movies and video games. Various movies like X men, Bond movies, Rocky movies, and martial art movies are watched for the Action Scenes in them. The adolescents are not only exposed to physical violence but also to other more subtle forms of aggression especially in the so called “Family Serials” that concentrate on mainly family politics and portray characters who plot to kill their own family members for money. In many other serials betrayal of trust and mental cruelty (which is a form of aggression) are impersonated by the main characters themselves. Such exposure to various forms of aggression ‘Teach’ new ways of aggressing against people. They may also have a desensitization effect on the young minds or even serve to ‘Prime’ their hostile thoughts i.e., due to such exposure, in an unpleasant situation, such hostile thoughts will come first and easily to their minds. Thus, exposure to media violence plays a vital role in encouraging juvenile delinquency.

It may be interesting to note here that ancient Indian philosophy has always asserted that the human mind is a plain slate on which every sense experience leaves a non-erasable impression that necessarily affects our thought processes and consequently behavior. Shades of the same approach can also be seen in Greek philosophy in Plato’s “Republic” where Plato advocates for completely censored education that bans information about wars from being taught to students and also bans drums or any beat instrument as they are supposed to excite aggression in a person. He also advocated that war songs must be heard only by soldiers and not by any other person as they breed aggression. He also went to the extent of stating that soldiers must be continually exposed to war music as it makes them warriors. Thus, it may be concluded that the adverse effect of exposure to aggression was well understood by the two most ancient civilizations and it could have saved our societies much time, energy and damage if we had accepted the age-old tradition of not seeing ‘bad things’ and followed the Gandhian concept of three monkeys.

• Heightened Arousal: Emotion, Cognition and Aggression:

The excitation transfer theory suggests that because physiological arousal tends to dissipate slowly over time, a portion of such arousal may persist as a person moves from one situation to another. It further suggests that such effects are most likely to occur when the persons involved are unaware of the presence of residual arousal – a common arousal, a common occurrence, as small elevations in arousal are difficult to notice. Excitation transfer theory also suggests that such effects are likely to occur when the persons involved recognize their residual arousal but attribute it to events occurring in the present situation. This theory explains the why under some conditions, heightened arousal – whatever its source ranging from a delay to an accident – can enhance aggression in response to provocation, frustration or other factors.

In various experiments, arousal stemming from such varied sources as participation in competitive games, vigorous exercises and even some types of music has been found to increase subsequent aggression. In regard to music it must be mentioned that fast music specially that based on drum beats has been found to be responsible for many road accidents as well as arousal of aggression in people. Unfortunately. However, this is the kind of music that is preferred by today’s adolescents. Again we must refer to Plato’s censored education and the wisdom of the Indian classical music that has been found to have a soothing and calm effect on not only humans but also plants and animals. Reference must also be made to the fact that Yoga exercises – the ancient physical fitness program – always end with Shavasan – an exercise aimed at relaxing the body and mind after a rigorous exercise. Keeping in mind all these perhaps it may be concluded that the rehabilitation programs for juvenile offenders may be made more effective by using the age old wisdom of ancient Indian civilizations. Perhaps such delinquents can be taught classical music that has a soothing effect on mind – which is an antidote to aggression – and meditation that is being used in various parts of the world to overcome the detrimental effects of day-to-day frustrations and to increase patience and tolerance level in people.

Anomie, Criminality and Juvenile Delinquency

Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary defines anomie as:

“A condition of hopelessness caused by a breakdown of rules of conduct,

and loss of belief and sense of purpose in society or in an individual”

In criminological terms it is normally used to depict a state of lawlessness or normlessness.

The term was first used last century by Emile Durkheim – a criminologist and a sociologist.

Durkheim recognized that there was criminality in all societies. He saw crime as a normal occurrence and said that it is impossible t have society totally devoid of crime. He argues that crime originates in society and is a fundamental condition of social organization, therefore no social organization can be without crime. He claimed that the best examples of healthy levels of criminality were to be found in simple mechanical societies. An unhealthy level of criminality is more likely to arise in an organic society, and to be the result of the law being inadequate to regulate the interactions of the various parts of that society. The incomplete integration gives rise to anomie, one of the results of which is excessive or unhealthy levels of criminality. For him anomie was the result of alack of societal norms or regulations over peoples’ desires and aspirations. When societal norms are overthrown, resistance to new limitations, and so new norms take a long time to develop. It is at such time that suicide and homicide rise.

After Durkheim, the most famous criminological writes on anomie is the Americal Robert K Merton.

According to Merton, anomie is an endemic condition that can exist at any time and not only at times of abrupt change. According to him, society can be basically stable while part of it or even a large part of it is anomic. According to him the society sets the desires and goals sets the desires and goals sets the desires and goals for the people and the same society also sets fro them the acceptable means for achieving this end. However, the lower class does not get access to these legitimate means to achieve the goals set by the society for him. The absence of such opportunities gives rise to strain and therefore criminality in lower class juveniles.

Intelligence, Criminality and Juvenile Delinquency

There are two distinct types of mental defect, amentia and dementia. Amentia literally means lack of mind and describes a person who is born with a reduced intellect. These people are often known as subnormal. Dementia describes somebody who once had a normal intelligence but later lost it through disease, decay or accident.

The link between reduced intellect and crime was made because it was assumed that intelligence was linked to the ability to learn and understand complex societal norms and rules. Furthermore, it was considered that those of low intellect were less able to control their emotions and their behavior. It was not until the turn of the century that reasonable reliable tests to assess intelligence were produced.

The earliest reputable studies into the link between criminality and intelligence were perhaps those conducted by Goddard (1912), starting with an unscientific study of the Kalikah family; by using a subjective assessment of ‘feeble mindedness’ it largely begged the question it claimed to prove. Goddard’s later studies were more acceptable ‘scientifically’ as they used the objective IQ tests to measure for ‘feeble mindedness’. He studied the inmates of 16 reformatories and concluded that criminals are feeble minded. He even went further to suggest that all feeble minded people were potential criminals.

However, investigations in the past 50 years after 1920 largely failed to discover a connection between criminality and feeble mindedness.

More recently, the possibility of a link has been revived and has some support. The modern proponents of a link between intelligence and criminality have had a more scientific approach than their predecessors. Hirschi and Hindling (1977) fond that low IQ was as good a predictor of delinquency as the more commonly accepted factors such as social class and upbringing.

The findings from two Danish longitudinal studies suggest that the relationship is not spurious. Moffitt and associates found a negative relationship between IQ and delinquency, controlling for socio economic status (SES). They note,

“Low IQ children may be likely to engage in delinquent

behavior because their poor verbal abilities limit their

opportunities to obtain rewards in the school environment”

Hyperactivity or “Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity” (DSMIII) has been linked to delinquency. Children with this disorder display “signs of inappropriate development, inattention, impulsivity, and hyper activity”. Support for an association between hyperactivity and later anti social behavior comes from a number of sources:

1. Longitudinal studies have indicated a relationship between hyperactivity and later antisocial behavior.
2. Retrospective studies have indicated that parents of delinquents, who may themselves be impulsive and violent, often have histories of hyper kinetic syndrome as children.
3. Hyperactivity has been related to alcoholism, psychopathy and other neurological disorders in adulthood.

Numerous studies have documented a link between juvenile delinquency and specific learning disabilities. Most are based on children from predominantly lower class backgrounds, so that the relationship between learning disabilities and children arrested for delinquency is confounded with social class. For example, a recent study by Broderand coworkers challenges the hypothesis that learning – disabled children necessarily engage in more delinquent behavior. Although there was a higher incidence of learning disability problems in adjudicated delinquents, the authors found that self – reported delinquency has a low but negative relationship to learning disability. Although not necessarily involved in more delinquent activity, learning disabled youths had a greater of being apprehended. On the other hand, a recent study addressing many of these concerns, Wolf and associates found that delinquents differed markedly from both lower and upper middle class controls on language measures but not on non linguistic neuropsychological measures.

Subcultural Theories of Juvenile Delinquency

In 1957, David Matza and Gresham Stykes produced a theory of delinquency that was designed to explain juvenile crimes.

The main theme of the theory is concerned with what they called drift. In contrast to many other theories, Matza’s theory of drift involves an element of free will, individual choice and judgment on behavior. This admission of free will into his doctrine is, to a certain extent, a return to the Classical school of criminology, which existed before positivism became popular.

The concept of drift basically situates the individual as drifting at will between law abiding and delinquent or criminal behavior, being never committed to either type of behavior. The state of drift is reached because of what Matza terms as neutralization. Neutralization arises from the fat that every criminal law has its limits, usually denoted by official defences to the activity, and therefore every law is qualified. Matza suggests that juveniles use these limits, extending their interpretation in ways, which allow the action without guilt or remorse: it can be justified both to self and others by pleading, say, self defence, duress or even insanity. Part of this process also involves a distortion of other areas of the dominat value system. A minor element of the dominant value system encourages individuals to seek excitement and adventure. These objects are normally made subordinate to more dominant ideals as hard work. Matza argues that delinquents take these subordinate values, extend them, and use them in inappropriate ways and time.

In Matza’s theory the individual does not fully accept or internalize any set of rules or norms, but has rather learnt a set of ‘definitions favorable to violation’, while still tacitly subscribing to many of the middle class rules.

Matza and Stykes (1957) list five justifications (before the act) or excuses (after the act) which delinquents may use to explain or neutralize criminal acts:

• Deny responsibility, usually by claiming that the act was a result of uncontrollable factors: an accident, parental neglect, poverty, broken home, being led astray by friends.
• The criminal may claim that no one was actually harmed, either physically or financially. If items are stolen for wealthy individuals, or from employers or large shops, it may be said that they can afford the loss or that the insurance company will pay. The same person might well perceive theft from an identifiable fellow individual as immoral. Again, this may be used to explain a lot of white collar and corporate crimes. A quite different set of activities, gang fights, pub brawls or domestic violence are often seen by their perpetrators as private and therefore not criminal. Domestic violence may even be perceived as being for the victim’s good. In all these cases the perpetrators may be basically law abiding but have an extended view of acceptable behavior.
• The claim that the victim deserved the harm caused and so is not a true victim. For examples, sex crimes, especially those committed on sex workers or pub waitresses.
• An offender might claim that since everyone has at some time committed a criminal act, no one is in a position to condemn him.

The approval of the gang or group may be said to be more important than those of the family or of society. Thus where the group calls for it delinquency is justified. Here, reference to influence of peer groups on juveniles may be remembered as discussed earlier in this section.

History about the enactments of acts for juveniles

Following the increased accent on child-welfare in the early years of twentieth century India embarked upon creating upon a separate law for the delinquent & the non-delinquent children in need of care & protection. In the beginning of the twentieth century, the Government of India felt the need for enacting a separate legislation pertaining for the purpose of the protection of the children from the possible abuse. In 1850, the Apprentices Act was passed. It was the first juvenile legislation in India. It was an All-India measure to deal with the children between the age group of 10 & 18 years who had committed petty offences & were destitute. It stipulated that a father or a guardian could bind a child to an employer for a period of 7 years for the purpose of learning a trade or craft.

The objective of the Act was to divert the misdirected energies of juveniles towards the learning of some trade, so that they could earn their own living after the completion of the training. The Reformatory School Act was passed in 1876 & modified in 1897 established a distinctive machinery for dealing with youthful offenders. This Act empowered the court to send the youthful offenders (boys only) under 15 years of age who had been sentenced to transportation of imprisonment to a reformatory school for a period of not less then 3 years & not more then 7 years. It also established regulations concerning the standards for administration of such schools.

        

The Government of India enacted the Children Act in 1960, to act as model legislation & to introduce uniformity in the rules & procedures. This Act introduces some new features in respect of separate handling of destitute & delinquent children through separate institutions. The Act emphasized on the acceptance of a broad principle that children below a certain age should not be dealt with by criminal courts & sent to ordinary prisons. And the government enacted another act replacing former act of 1960, The Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 which aims 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 consists of 63 sections spread over seven chapters. The Act, which extends to whole of India except in Jammu & Kashmir provides 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 Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 was inadequate as non-institutional methods such as family and school based preventive services to deal with juvenile delinquency were neither specified nor explored. Moreover, the Act did not directly deal with child sexual abuse. Despite the law, children were taken for interrogation overnight, detained, tortured and released in the morning. So, the Juvenile Justice Act 1986 got replaced by the most comprehensive law to deal with children’s right, Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000.

THE Juvenile justice Act, 2000, accepts & approves of the approaches, as found desirable in the implementation of the Children Acts. It imposes certain duties on police and it envisages creation of certain institutions including Juvenile Justice Board, Special Juvenile Police Unit and Juvenile Officers.  These are intended to ensure due attention of state apparatus to juveniles who come in conflict with law or other children requiring protection receive due attention of State apparatus. 

        

It envisages a two-pronged machinery of juvenile justice:

• CHILD WALFARE COMITTE  (in relation to neglected juveniles)

The ‘Juvenile Welfare Board’ for exercising the powers & discharging the duties conferred on it in relation to ‘neglected juveniles. The State Government has been empowered to constitute the Juvenile Welfare Board for a specified area. The Board consists of a chairman & such other members, as the Governments thinks fit to appoint, of whom at least one shall be a woman. The Boards functions as a bench. In the absence of a chairman, the members present elect a member from amongst themselves for conducting the business of the board. In the event of any difference of opinion among the members of a board, the opinion of the majority prevails, & if there is no such majority the opinion of the Chairman prevails. The members appointed for conducting the business of the Board usually possess the knowledge of child psychology & child welfare.

• JUVENILE JUSTICE BOARD  (in relation to juveniles in conflict with law)

The juvenile court has its jurisdiction over the juveniles who have been declared delinquent for having committed as offence. The court consists of such number of Metropolitan Magistrates or Judicial Magistrates as the case may be, forming a bench as the State Government may feel fit to appoint. Out of these magistrates forming the bench, one is designated as the Principle Magistrate. Every Juvenile Court is assisted with a panel of two honorary social workers appointed by the State Government.

The Juvenile Justice Act, 2000

The Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 was inadequate as non-institutional methods such as family and school based preventive services to deal with juvenile delinquency were neither specified nor explored. Moreover, the Act did not directly deal with child sexual abuse. Despite the law, children were taken for interrogation overnight, detained, tortured and released in the morning. So, the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 got replaced by the most comprehensive law to deal with children’s right, Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000.

The main objectives of the Act are as follows:

1. It lays 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. It spells out the machinery and infrastructure required for the care, protection, treatment, development and rehabilitation of various categories of children coming within the purview of juvenile justice system.
3. It sets out the norms and standards for the administration of justice in terms of investigation and prosecution, adjudication and disposition, care and protection, etc.
4. It seeks 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. The Act seeks to constitute special offences in relation to juveniles and provides for punishment therefore.

The Role of Police in Juvenile Justice

It cannot be denied that the first contact of a juvenile in conflict with law is always with the police. Every juvenile offender has to go to police station for however brief the period may be, before he is sent to the Juvenile Home. The juvenile offender has to remain in contact of traditional policemen during investigation stage. Other agencies like the voluntary organizations, Juvenile court, Welfare Board etc., come into picture at a later stage only. Their co-operation in dealing with juvenile offender is certainly valuable but from the administrative point of view it is only the police organization, which can prevent and control the ever-increasing quantum of juvenile crimes.

Duties imposed on police by the act:

1. As soon as a Juvenile in conflict with law is apprehended by Police he shall be placed under the charge of the Special Juvenile Police Unit or the designated Police Officer, who shall immediately report the matter to a member of the Juvenile Justice Board.  Till the time, such Board is constituted; the juvenile shall be produced before the concerned Court.
2. Designated Police Officer of the Police Station apart from dealing with the cases of Juvenile crimes shall also the Nodal Officer for attending the calls from ‘Woman & Child Help line and for investigating cases relating to Child abuse. This telephone number should be displayed on the Notice Board of all Police Stations and other Units. 
3. SHOs will ensure that the designated Officers personally attend cases involving child victims.  
4. Juvenile, who is arrested and is not released on bail by Officer In charge of Police Station, shall be kept only in observation home until he can be brought before a Board/Court. 
5. Officer/In-charge of Police Station as soon as may be after arrest of a Juvenile shall inform parent or guardian of the Juvenile and direct him to be present at the Board.  Officer/In-charge of Police Stations shall inform Probation Officer of such arrest to enable him to obtain information regarding antecedents and family background of the juvenile.    

Rehabilitation of Juvenile Delinquents in India 

The rehabilitation programs for juvenile delinquents in India can be divided into two categories:

1. Institutional Treatment Programs
2. Community Based Programs

Institutional Treatment Programs

Institutional programs to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents may be classified into three categories:

1. Observation Home
2. Juvenile Home
3. Special Home

• Observation Home

Section 34 of the juvenile Justice Act 2000 provides for the establishment and maintenance of observation homes for the temporary reception of juveniles during the pendency of any enquiry against them. At present there are more than 246 observation home in India. Besides offering basic facilities like food, shelter, medical facilities and useful occupation to the children, these homes also provide the officers to observe them at close quarters. The Act requires that the neglected children and other delinquents must be housed separately. However, the crucial role of these homes in rehabilitating children is greatly affected by the day-to-day problems encountered in the management of the homes. Contravening the provisions of the Act, all delinquents are housed together. Necessary facilities and amenities extended to the children sometimes do not meet the minimum standards. They are often overcrowded and the inmates are unable to receive individual attention, which is important for their rehabilitation. Needless to state, these homes suffer from resource constraints as well as lack of will leading to an adverse impact on the rehabilitation of the children under their care.  

Juvenile Homes and Special Homes
Generally, in correctional institutions (juveniles/special homes) two types of programs are offered to the juvenile. On the one hand, basic amenities and on the other hand, various types of education and vocational training are imparted through instructors. A classification system based on age, physical and mental health, length of commitment, degree if delinquency and character is used to enhance the effectiveness of the programs. Besides, cultural meets, parents- inmates-staff meetings, community contacts, visits to outside institutions, excursions etc., are conducted to facilitate the socio-cultural development of the inmates. All these inputs are expected to help them reform and develop a healthy personality to lead an independent and normal life in the community after their release from the institution. While achieving this, juveniles in this institution are subjected to a certain routine in the institution, which has its implication on their rehabilitation.

Community Based Programs
Non-institutional or community based rehabilitation programs for juvenile delinquents may include probation release on license, aftercare and juvenile service/ guidance bureau.
Probation

Probation as a rehabilitation measure is one of the most significant approaches in community-based corrections. Sections 13 of the Act deal with the subject of probation. Under these provisions, the probation officer is expected to obtain information regarding the antecedents and family history of the juvenile and other material circumstances likely to be of assistance to the juvenile court in conducting an enquiry. On the basis of enquiry the juvenile court gives its decision. The court may order the juvenile to remain under the supervision of the probation officer for a period not exceeding three years. In the case of such order for supervision, the court shall explain to the juvenile and his/her guardian the terms and conditions of the order. The juvenile welfare board too may instead of sending the juvenile to a juvenile home may place him under the care of any guardian executing a bond with or without surety. The probation officer often counsels the family and concerned persons to understand and face the personal or environmental problems leading to the juvenile’s delinquent behavior, so that they may mitigate the problems facing the juvenile and facilitate his rehabilitation. On the other hand the effective probation supervision ability and dedication of the probation officers are partly affected by a number of facts, which in turn affect the rehabilitation of the juveniles. These factors include services, administration and public relations of probation. The service conditions of a probation officer are highly unfavorable as there is no uniformity in pay and they are underpaid. They are not trained either. They do not secretarial assistance. The ordinary people unaware of the probation system and thus do not cooperate with a probation officer. These and many other factors combine together to make the system completely useless.

• Release on license/Aftercare

Release in license is also knows as statutory and sometimes as aftercare. The difference between statutory aftercare and non-statutory aftercare is that in the former the juvenile is released on supervision on the condition that he will be returned to the institution, if he violates the conditions, whereas in the later there is no such legal binding as he is released from the institution after completing the entire period. However, the programs and services offered to both categories of juveniles are more or less similar. Section 44 of the Act deals with the release of the juvenile on license, the Act empower the State govt. to make rules to establish or recognize aftercare organizations for the purpose of taking care of juveniles after they have been released from juvenile homes or special homes and for the purpose of enabling them to lead an honest, industrious and useful; life. More importantly, Section 44 of the Act also provides for the preparation or submission of a report by the probation officer in respect of each juvenile prior to his release on license or voluntary aftercare from a juvenile home or special home, as the case may be, regarding the necessity and nature of aftercare of such juvenile, the period of such aftercare, supervision thereof and for the submission of a report by the probation officer on the progress of each such juvenile. This report certainly facilities the planning of the aftercare programs for juveniles.   A juvenile or child over seventeen years of age but less than eighteen years of age has to stay in the after-care organisation till he attains the age of twenty years.

PREVENTION OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

         Prevention of juvenile social maladjustment, which often leads to juvenile delinquency, has for long been a recurring theme in the juvenile justice system. The mere fact that the system deals with the children means that there is always something worse to be prevented. This belief rests on several assumptions: that the children have a long time ahead in which to commit crimes; that they are at a malleable stage of their lives; that their actual delinquent acts are as children more of a nuisance then a threat. In view of these assumptions; it is generally believed that no issue is of greater importance in the field of juvenile justice then delinquency prevention.

        The programmes aimed at delinquency prevention have now assumed greater significance owing to the minimal success of correctional programmes in action. The tide, it seems, has turned to prevention as a possible solution to the problem. Lukas wrote that the contemporary societies are far less dedicated to crime & delinquency prevention then what they pretend to be. Palmer says that most of the societies are not prevention societies; they tend to take action after the problem tends to take large-scale proportions.

Most societies are continually trying to redefine their crime & delinquency strategies, devising new programmes & utilizing both the new & old techniques with great deal of enthusiasm & hope.

PRINCIPLES OF PREVENTVE MEASURES

1. The measures should be permeated with a legal spirit & must be in keeping with the demands of the present times.
2. Measures must be based on law; they must be in compliance with the observance of the rule of law.
3. Measure should apply to circumstances that would be conducive with the commissions of crime, if not done away with.
4. Measures must be progressive & must take into consideration the recent advances of Science, & technology in the field of criminal sciences.
5. Measures adopted should be concrete to the highest degree.
6. Measures approved should have the concurrence of those organizations & agencies on which its implementation depends.
7. Measures must be technically feasible & economically sound.
8. Measures must not infringe upon the rights & legal interests of the people.

DELINQUENCY PREVENTION PROGRAMMES

The opinion prevailing over the juvenile justice sector is that if delinquency is multi-causal, its prevention should be multi-faceted too. The strategies devised for the purpose are as follows-

A. Individual Level Programmes

The individual level programmes for persons identified as needing help call for preventive treatment during the delinquency risk-age period. In specific the programme emphasizes-

1. Locating problem child & their families;
2. Referral to appropriate agencies for diagnostic study;
3. Referral to suitable treatment agencies;
4. Maintaining a follow up record of treatment agency contact;
5. Resuming authority when the treatment agency closes its case;
6. Continuing the successive follow up of the treatment procedures;&
7. Closing the case when the child has made permanent community adjustment.

One of the basic aims of such programmes is to make the provision of requisite assistance & a range of opportunities to meet the varying needs of the young, especially those who are most likely to commit or exposed to crime.

B. Group Level Programmes

Group Level Programmes is based on the promise that juvenile delinquency is commonly a group experience & that efforts to change delinquent behaviour should operate on a group in which the individual operates. A number of group counselling methods have been employed, but the method called ‘guided group interaction’ has been most promising.

C.  Family Level programmes

Family level programmes aim at strengthening the role of family, especially the ones that fail to provide adequate care, control & supervision of their children. the programmes are based on the premises that ultimately the families would remain the juveniles last & most hopeful avenue for restoring in him the moral fibre & respect for socially approved norms of conduct & behaviour.

D. Community Level Programmes 

Community level programmes aim at organizing the community for active participation in the prevention & control of juvenile delinquency. The main aim is to include people from the areas of high delinquency rates in the organization of programme & activities that are designed for delinquency prevention.

E.  Society Level Programmes

Society level programme of crime &delinquency prevention emphasizes institutional changes- changes in the systems, which produce delinquency & other types of social maladjustments. The preventive ideology emphasizes the need to restructure the environment so that the criminal opportunities are minimized. The underlying idea suggests that crime & delinquency cannot be controlled through measures designed for the individual offenders, but can be controlled through the manipulation of the environment in which crime & delinquencies occur.

Conclusion

The enactment & the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 brings to the fore one significant fact: the idea of ‘juvenile justice’ has come to say with us permanently. Hopefully, there would be no going back from the commitment the country has made in this respect. The new justice system for the juveniles, the country has attempted to develop, stresses on the belief that the problem of juvenile delinquency & related problems of youth in irregular situation are not amenable to the resolution with the framework of traditional processes of criminal law. Juvenile justice system has, therefore, been designed to respond to the developmental needs of juveniles & youthful offenders. Juvenile justice in the sense of social justice for the child & his or her family has been considered a priority goal to the sought after both as an inherent goal & for the relevance of social justice in the prevention & control of juvenile delinquency.

        In respect of its objectives & salient features, the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 is to be treated as a harbinger of a new era of criminal justice for the juveniles. It is an exuberant measure to reject what was seemingly unjust in our criminal justice policy in regard to regard to dealing with juveniles of impressionable age, whom the society regards as delinquents on account of their law-violational conduct. It is a redemptive measure to set aside the mistakes of the past. The act revokes the rehabilitative response & calls for taking certain corrective measures for a far-reaching importance. It posses a challenge for the country & provides an excellent opportunity to fulfill our constitutional obligation towards all such children, who on the account of their own doings or the doings of others, wittingly or unwittingly, come into conflict with law. Though the juvenile justice system is faced with many practical difficulties:

1. Discrepancy & contradiction between officially stated policy & actual performance;
2. Recurrent failures to follow through on plans whose objectives conform to the officially stated positions, but whose execution would in fact run counter to latent functions; &
3. Conflicts over goals & methods between the concerned institutional system & between the sub-units within these systems.

In our country the shortage of juvenile courts, the multiplicity of their functions, the heavy workload of police & judiciary, & the lack of necessary infrastructure for the care, treatment & rehabilitation of various categories of children dealt with through the formal system continue to be the main impediments in the development of a progressive system of juvenile justice administration. Apart from the problems of proper co-ordination between various agencies concerned with juvenile justice, a variety of intra-system conflicts mark the quality of services as envisaged in the law. At many places the juvenile justice courts are still presided over by ordinary magistrates without proper regard to the specific needs of the juvenile justice system. The quality of pre-sentence investigation & supervision of juveniles placed on foster care, sponsorship or on probation leaves much to be desired. Juvenile institutions are not always manned & administered by qualified & trained staff, the general morale of the institutional staff is often is very low.

Bibliography

• Angus Stevenson, (ed.), Little Oxford English Dictionary, (Oxford University Press, 8th Edn/ 2004.), P.383.  
• Mahmood Bin Muhammad, Police & the Children Act: Role of the Police in Dealing with Juvenile Delinquency, Social Defence, Vol. XV, No. - 58, 1979.
• Chang, Dae H., Criminology: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, (Vikas Publications, New Delhi, 1976).
• National Institute of Social Defence, Operations Manual for Children’s Act, New Delhi, 1982.
• Shah Jyotshana, Some Fresh Thinking on Juvenile Courts, Indian Journal of Criminology, Vol.1, No. 1, 1973.

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