Juvenile Delinquency

Characteristics, Causes, and Risk Factors for Youth Crime

With rapid changes occurring with regard to development in our country, there are quite a few changes happening in the environment, the climate and our society. So is the behavior of the youth. Crimes committed by the youth of our country are at an alarmingly high rate today. There is an increase in delinquent behavior among the youth aged between 14-20 years and also in the number of children committing crimes in Indian schools.

A juvenile or a child is a person who hasn’t yet attained 18 years of age. A juvenile who is in conflict with the law is a child below 18 years of age who has committed an act which is considered a crime or an offense if they were an adult. Depending upon the type and severity of the crime committed, persons under 18 are charged and tried as most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as courts, juvenile detention centers or rehabilitation homes.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau Report of 2012, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of crimes committed by children from 0.8% in 2001 to 11.8% in 2011. Most juveniles are seen to be involved in crimes such as hurting, theft, riots and burglary. Kidnapping and abduction committed by juveniles has also increased considerably since 2008 and has inflated from 354 in 2008 to an alarming number of 823 in 2011. There is also a growing concern on the number of girl children in crimes which has come up to 5.8% in 2011 from the earlier 5.1% in 2010.

Some of the vital characteristics of juvenile delinquency in our country will help give a better view of the reality of the existence of this in our society. It has been seen that the delinquency rates are higher for boys than girls most of the time with a boy to girl ratio of 2.8:1. The delinquency rates are also higher during the early adolescence ages of 12-16 years which means that about 60% of the delinquents fall in this age group. The prevalence of juvenile delinquents is higher in urban than the rural population, especially in the metropolitan cities of India than in small towns or cities. Strangely, children living with families and guardians were more involved in delinquent behavior which shockingly shows the role of family environment in juvenile delinquency. Low educational background and a poor economic history has been seen to be aprime attribute for the development of this behavior.

There are many risk factors that add to juvenile crime in India. Sometimes, malfunctioning of the systems in juveniles home can turn interns into criminals. Due to neglect in services and infrastructure, the conditions of juvenile homes are bad and when society refuses to accept such children there is increased anger leading them to a life of hate and crime. The environment provided to children today by our society engages in materialism and the business of making money. The entertainment business today shows crime, hate, greed and violence with the evil bad men, the world of crime, corruption and killing.The supremacy of the male, differences in rich and poor, prosperity of the evil and the suffering of the good – all these have an impact on our country’s children.

These are just a few facts and risk factors which turn teenagers into criminals and create a lot of delinquents. Other factors like drugs, parental neglect, revenge, poverty and unemployment also contribute to the issue of juvenile crime. It is time for the government and the society to take steps to fight this problem and should provide appropriate education, values, facilities, counseling and help create change.