A study on the Juvenile Delinquency and its Supporting

factors.

Charu Singh and Rajeev Singh Bhandari

ABSTRACT

Juvenile delinquency is the term used to describe the criminal acts of the criminal offenders who are not
major i.e. under 18 and to analyze the present scenario of the juvenile delinquency the research is done.
This research aims to explore the educational background of the delinquents along with the family
background and their economic status which affects the juveniles or which results in the crime among
juveniles. The present study leads to the conclusion that the low income of the family, family background
(nuclear or joint or homeless), lack of parental supervision on their children is the main cause which is
leading to the rise in this trend of delinquency. Majority of the crime is committed by those who are in the
age group of 16-18 years because of the negative influence of the peer groups or the surroundings.

Keywords- Juvenile delinquency, Economic status, Family background and Educational background

Introduction

Children are born selfless and crime free, it is the surroundings of the society which inculcate crime in
them. It is necessary that there should be proper development along with proper availability of resources,
equal opportunity and healthy atmosphere for the children to grow with crime free mind.

For proper development not only physical and mental growth is important but also has good moral values.
It is well said that Child is born guiltless but its circumstances that forces him/her to do crimes and to curb
their involvement in crime; they need proper supervision, guardianship, quality education and attention.
Family plays an important role in upbringing of children as it can be seen that those children which are
living under nuclear family are more prone to crime in comparison to the joint family and the reason
behind this is that due to lack of supervision, they opt different methods to overcome their desires and
due to lack of maturity they are not able judge good or bad. Once they are able to achieve their needs by
such methods, it becomes their habit. As per the data of National Records Bureau 2015, of the total
juveniles apprehended were 35448 juveniles and the majority of crime committed by them was Rape,
Murder, Theft, Robbery, Burglary, Culpable homicide not amounting murder, attempt to murder,
kidnapping and abduction.


IIMS, Invertis University, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, Email- rajeevbhandari82@gmail.com,rajiv.b@invertis.org,

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Hence, the Positive development is important for growth of child; it implies that it is the proper guidance
and care of parents and guardians which helps them to figure out the difference between wrong and right.

Majority of juveniles involved in criminal activities belongs to the State of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Andhra pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana

Therefore, it is important to understand the concept of juvenile delinquency and the conditions giving birth
to the high rate of crime by juveniles.

Despite of various Juvenile homes and youth development programs launched for their development and
to curb the crime the crimes among juveniles are raising at an alarming rate. Is it due the lack of law and
order or poor implementation of the said laws?

The concept of juvenile delinquency is used to describe the involvement of children in some acts which
are forbidden by the law or violates the code of law. The term Juvenile originally derived from the Latin
word “Juvenis” which means young while the term delinquency has been derived from the Latin word
“Delinquer” which means to omit but presently this word stands for those children who are indulge in
wrongful and harmful activities.

We often get confuse with two terms Minor and Juveniles. The term ‘Minor’ and ‘Juveniles’ are used in
two different contexts. The term Minor is used to define the legal capacity of the child while the term
Juveniles is used in reference with the young criminal offenders.

Historical development of Juvenile justice Regime in India

Prior to 1850 there was no such legislation enacted to look after the cases related to juveniles. In 1850,
the first legislation was passed in form of Apprentice Act, this act constitutes the provisions related to
vocational training to convicted children.

Soon after that Indian Penal Code, 1860 was passed according to which an absolute immunity was given
to the child under the age of 7 from criminal liability under section 82 whereas section 83 provides partial
immunity to child of the age group 7- 12 years. Above 12 years were treated as adult under this Act. But
the threat was that sending the children to the ordinary jail might result in bad consequences. Hence,
Reformatory School Act was enacted in 1897 which provided for the constitution of Reformatory schools
for young persons (boy not above than 15 years). Further Children Act, 1960 was enacted and various
states enacted their local children acts to deal with delinquency.

The time demanded uniform law to be enacted to govern juvenile delinquency and hence in year 1986 the
Juvenile Justice Act and which was recently amended in year 2015 Juvenile Justice (Care and
Protection) Act which extends to whole of India except state of Jammu and Kashmir. This act provided for
the establishment of one or more juvenile justice board for exercising the powers and discharging its

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functions related to children who are in conflict with law. According to this act, passed in 2015 by Lok
Sabha has new clause that if a juvenile of 16 years or above commits some Heinous Crime, he may be
tried as an adult. The juvenile Justice board will determine whether the juvenile is fit to be tires as an adult
based on the findings of a preliminary inquiry and the period of preliminary inquiry will be of 3months.

Literature Review

1
 Becker (1968) had reported that juvenile’s delinquency could be a rational response to the
incentives for legal and criminal activities. According to him the estimation shows that the youth
will engage in criminal behavior if the potential gains are large enough and likelihood of
substantial punishment is relatively low.
2
 Camenor and Phillips (2002) observed that fathers play a critical role in the rearing of boys at a
tender age and having a step-father also increases the delinquency among the children rather
than having a step-mother.
3
 Juby and Farrington (2001) claimed through three theories that explain the relationship between
the distorted families and delinquency. According to his first theory i.e. trauma theory the loss of
parents results in the damaging effect on children because of the attachment they had with their
parents. Further according to his second theory i.e. Life course theory points separation as a long
drawn out process rather than a discrete event, and on the effects of multiple stressors typically
associated with separation, and according to the last theory i.e. selection theory which contended
that the distorted families is the prime reason behind delinquency because of the pre-existing
difference in the income of the family and the method of child rearing
4
 According to K.S Narayan (2005) despite the decrease in the incidence of juveniles crimes at
both absolute and relative level, but in urban and rural it is reported often that the practices of
juvenile servitude, child labor, domestic juvenile servitude and girl juvenile trafficking. Such
reports claim the examination of juvenile problems.
5
 Levitt and Lochner 2000 had studied the juvenile’s criminal involvement. Biological factors i.e.
being male having low intelligence and short time horizon are of the determinants of crime.
Family background factors .i.e. erratic parental discipline, lack of adequate supervision and
maternal rejection are linked with criminal involvement whereas social factors include income
inequality and rejection influences the delinquent behavior among youth.

1
Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach. Journal of Political Economy
2
The Impact of Income and Family Structure on Delinquency.Journal of Applied Economics
3
“Disentangling the Link between Disrupted Families and Delinquency.” British Journal of Criminology.
4
Dimensions of juvenile problems: institutional and non-institutional.Soc Welfare
5
The Determinants of Juvenile Crime. In J. Gruber (Ed.), "Risky Behavior by Youths. University of Chicago Press.

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 6
 Moffitts (1993) it marks the difference between on those who committees crime in early age and
continue it throughout the life and the offenders who commit offence during their teen age. In the
words of Tomovic VA Juvenile delinquency is the condition arising out of the socio-personal
disorganization in the sequence of experience and influences that shape behavior problems.
Basically it is considered as the product of social process involving numerous variables and the
failure of social and personal controls.
7
 Peiser (2001) according to him the parental discipline pattern is a key to examine the contribution
of family and personality factor to delinquency, he too claimed that the self-esteem is an
important factor in the development of delinquency, in some countries a comparative study was
conducted in this view of self esteem where according to Kaplan (1957, 1977, 1978, and 1980)
negative self-esteem is the output of the situations in the adolescent is unable to defend their self
image and situations like school failure, rejection by school, parental rejection and some
environmental factors results in the delinquency among juveniles.
8
 Weatherburn and Lind (1997) they observed the reason for the delinquency in rural and urban
areas. According to them socio-economic reasons are the basic cause which leads to the
increasing offence in the rate among juveniles.

9
 Wright and Wright (1994) according to him the family is the backbone of the human society, the
children who are generally avoided by their parents or they are rejected by them are more prone
to delinquency because of the lack of proper supervision. Due to lack of supervision they are
generally influenced by the peer group and nearby surroundings. It is said that the single parent
families especially where mother is only family are producing more delinquents but Wright and
Wright (1994) research have showed that the mostly delinquents belongs to those who are living
with both the parents

Theories Regarding Juvenile Delinquency

1) Classic theory (Rational choice theory): According to this theory, people are rational and they
used to make calculated choices regarding what they are going to do before an act. Juvenile
delinquents before committing any crime, firstly they collect information regarding particular event

6
Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review
7
Peiser N. (2001). The impact of family relations and personality factors on delinquent behavior among youth. University of
Wollongong.

8
Social and Economic Stress, Child Neglect and Juvenile Delinquency.NSW Bureau of Crime statistics and Research, Attorney
General’s Department
9
Family Life, Delinquency, and Crime: A Policymakers Guide

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 then process and evaluate information about the crime and after weighing the benefits of such
10
crime they decide to commit such act.
2) Social Control Theory: this theory is considered as the most important theory of sociological
theory in regards to juvenile delinquency which lays its foundation on the ideologies of Thomas
th
Hobbes and in 20 century criminologist expanded his ideologies and concluded that without
control children would break law. As per this delinquency is expected behaviour of juveniles. The
main purpose was to prevent the crime among juveniles at very first instance.
3) Social bond theory: according to this theory, human being is connected to society by four
elements- attachment, commitment, involvement and belief. Stronger the bond of attachment,
likely the youth will commit less crimes. Once juveniles are committed towards their career and
get involved in education hence the chances of their involvement in crime gets less. Through
various research it has been reported that children who had strong bond with their parents and
11
knows the importance of ‘Values’ and ‘Beliefs’ are less likely to become delinquent.
4) Anomie theory: according to Robert Merton, the main reason behind the delinquency among
juveniles is the lack sources to attain their goals and in order to attain such goals they fail to
analyze wrong and right method get involved in activities contrary to law of the land.

Research Objectives

The objectives of the research are as follows-

1) To study the classification of juveniles (under IPC and SLL crimes) by different attributes during
2003-2015
2) To study the number of cases registered against Juveniles in conflict with the Law during 20013-
2015

Research Methodology

To analyze the rising trend of juvenile delinquency in criminology and the influencing factor the method
opted for research is the Quantitative method.

Data for the research is collected from various government sites www.ncrb.gov.in, www.data.gov.in and
through articles from the newspaper i.e. the times of India. Present research is done on the analysis of
data collected for the time period of 2003-2013.

10
http://criminal-justice.iresearchnet.com/
11
Travis Hirschi’s (1969) version

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Findings

Table No.01-: cases registered against juveniles in conflict with the law and crime rate under IPC during
2003-2015

Year Cases Registered

Against Under % cases of Rate of crime
juveniles total juveniles in under cases of
in conflict cognizable conflict with law juveniles in
with the IPC to total conflict with the
law crimes cognizable crime Law.

2003 17819 1716120 1 1.7

2004 19229 1832015 1 1.8
2005 18939 1822602 1 1.7
2006 21088 1878293 1.1 1.9
2007 22865 1989673 1.1 2
2008 24535 2093379 1.2 2.1
2009 23926 2121345 1.1 2
2010 22740 2224831 1 1.9
2011 25125 2325575 1.1 2.1
2012 27936 2387188 1.2 2.3
2013 31725 2647722 1.2 2.6
2014 33526 2851563 1.2 2.7
2015 31396 2949400 1.1 2.5
Source: NCRB

Explanation-

As per the data regarding incidence and rate of juvenile

delinquency under IPC, it can be concluded that since 2003-
2015 the number of cases registered against those juveniles
which are in conflict with the law has increased from 17819 in
2003 to 31396 in 2015 which means percentage cases of
juveniles in conflict with the law had shown variation from 1%
to 1.1%.

Since 20013 to 2015 cases registered against juveniles has

increased by 1.8 times. Despite of various legislation enacted by
the legislature,
Finding crime among
02: Classification juveniles
of juveniles is increasingunder
apprehended at an IPC and SLL crime by different attributes
alarming
(2003-2015)rate.

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Year Illiterates Primary Above Matric
primary / H.sec
but below and
Matric / above.
H.sec
2003 9618 13505 7581 2616
2004 9273 10771 8848 2051
2005 8660 12394 9508 2119
2006 7975 12688 9405 2077
2007 7926 12659 10620 3322
2008 9069 12544 10072 2822
2009 7781 11653 10461 3747
2010 6339 11086 9855 3023
2011 6122 12803 10519 4443
2012 7226 13459 13983 5154
2013 8392 13984 15423 5812
2014 10530 15004 17637 5059
2015 4757 14229 19056 3343
Source: NCRB

Explanation

On analyzing the data, it can be concluded that

the majority of the juveniles apprehended under
Indian Penal Code and Special Local Laws
crimes are those who had education above
primary but below Matric/H.sec as number of
juveniles arrested since 2003-2015 had
increased by 151.4% (2003-7581, 2015- 19056).

Various Educational policies are framed by the

Government to raise the education level among
children still there is no such improvement due
toTable
the lack of quality
No-03:- education.
Classification of juveniles arrested under IPC and SLL by family background during 2003-
2013 (Family Background wise)

Year Living with parents Living with guardians Homeless

2003 26435 4729 2156

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 2004 23701 4922 2320
2005 25398 4564 2719
2006 24990 4958 2197
2007 27074 5099 2354
2008 27807 4852 1848
2009 26633 4657 2352
2010 24549 4082 1672
2011 27577 4386 1924
2012 31639 5793 2390
2013 35244 5800 2462
2014 38693 7905 1632
2015 35448 4315 1622
Source: NCRB Annual report

Explanation:

Since 2003-2015 juveniles arrested under

IPC and SLL crimes are from different
family backgrounds i.e., nuclear, joint or
homeless and the majority arrested juveniles
belongs to those who are living with parents
(there percentage had increased by 34.1%
since 2003-2015)

Table No-04:- Classification of juveniles arrested under IPC and SLL crime by economic status during
2003-2013 (Economic status wise)
Family annual income (Rupees)
Year Up to 25,001 50,001 1,00,001 2,00,001 Above
25,000 to to to to 3,00,001
50,000 1,00,000 2,00,000 3,00,000

2003 24593 5981 2150 450 130 16

2004 22387 5759 2142 549 101 5

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 2005 23276 6255 2223 746 140 41
2006 23268 6353 1913 499 52 60
2007 23626 7296 2339 1037 136 93
2008 21453 8025 3885 826 281 37
2009 21576 7450 3151 1142 290 33
2010 18980 7310 2836 860 257 60
2011 19230 9059 3892 1212 398 96
2012 21049 10360 5458 1972 648 335
2013 21860 11885 6494 2296 626 240
2014 26809 10813 6887 2506 776 439
2015 17543 11695 7982 2757 951 457
Source: NCRB Annual report 2013

Explanation

On analyzing the economic status whether it influences

delinquency among juveniles. As per the majority of
juveniles arrested under IPC and SLL crimes are those
whose income is above 3,00,000Rs/, the number of juveniles
apprehended since 2003-2015 had increased by 28.6 times
whereas, the number of juveniles apprehended to those who
belongs to annual income upto 25,000Rs/ had decreased by
0.7 times

Table No- 05-: Juveniles apprehended under IPC and SLL crimes by age group (2003-2013) (Age-Group
wise)

Year Total 07-12 % to total 12-16 % to total 16-18 % to total

apprehen years apprehen years apprehen years apprehen
ded ded ded ded.

2003 33320 3584 10.8 11687 35.1 18049 54.2

2004 30943 2107 6.8 12415 40.1 16421 53.1
2005 32681 1645 5 13090 40.1 17946 54.9
2006 32145 1595 5 12535 39 18015 56

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 2007 34527 1460 4.22 12114 35.1 20953 60.7
2008 34507 1281 3.7 12272 35.6 20954 60.7
2009 33642 1133 3.4 10741 31.9 21768 64.7
2010 30303 927 3.1 10123 33.4 19253 63.5
2011 33887 1211 3.6 11019 32.5 21657 63.9
2012 39822 1286 3.2 12063 30.3 26473 66.5
2013 43506 1330 3.1 13346 30.7 28830 66.3
2014 48230 872 1.8 11220 23.3 36138 74.9
2015 41385 602 1.5 11052 26.7 29731 71. 8

Source: NCRB Annual Report

Explanation

Since 2003-2015, juveniles arrested under IPC and SLL

crimes, under different age group shows significant change as
juveniles arrested are of age group:

(7-12 years) = decreased by 0.2 times since 2003-2015.

(12-16 years)= decreased by 0.9 times since 2003-2015

(16-18 years)= increased by 0.7 times since 2003-2015

Table No 06-: Juveniles apprehended under IPC and SLL crimes by Sex (2003-2013) (Gender-wise)

Year Boys Girls Total % of girls to

juveniles the total
apprehended apprehended

2003 30985 2335 33320 7

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2004 28878 2065 30943 6.7
2005 30606 2075 32681 6.3
2006 30375 1770 32145 5.5
2007 32671 1856 34527 5.4
2008 32795 1712 34507 5
2009 31550 2092 33642 6.2
2010 28763 1540 30303 5.1
2011 31909 1978 33887 5.8
2012 37764 2058 39822 5.2
2013 41639 1867 43506 4.3
2014 46638 1592 48230 3.3
2015 40468 917 41385 2.2
Source: NCRB Annual report

Explanation:

On analyzing the data, out of the total juveniles

apprehended under Indian Penal Code and Special
Local Law, the number of boy juveniles is more
than the girl juveniles.

The number of girls juveniles apprehended under

IPC and SLL crimes since 2003-2015 has decreased
by 60.7% whereas the number of boys juveniles
apprehended since 2003-2015 has decreased by
30.6%

Table No-07:-Major crime head for which Juveniles are apprehended under IPC
Year Murder Attempt Culpabl Rape Kidnappin Robbery Theft
to e g and
commit homicid abduction
murder e not
amounti
ng to
murder
2003 581 565 25 535 234 265 4739
2004 583 536 20 656 293 297 5862
2005 690 533 31 678 272 421 6289
2006 727 644 49 691 334 432 6574

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2007 824 654 43 825 347 516 7498
2008 902 701 26 863 415 658 7284
2009 999 728 33 887 460 582 6540
2010 847 640 37 937 589 689 6064
2011 1168 826 62 1231 823 782 6552
2012 1281 1132 52 1316 913 977 7205
2013 1230 1017 81 2074 1230 1194 7969
2014 1163 1029 67 2144 1932 1401 8863
2015 1092 1360 41 1841 1508 1838 7936
Source: NCRB Annual report

Explanation:

This table shows the maximum participation of juveniles in crimes like

Murder, rape, kidnapping, theft etc. On analyzing the data since 2003-
2015 there is significant increment in the number of juveniles arrested.

 Murder = 1.9 times (since 2003-2015)

 Attempt to commit murder = 2.4 times(since 2003-2015)
 Culpable homicide not amounting to murder = 1.6 times (since
2003-2015)
 Rape =3.4 times (since 2003-2015)
 Kidnapping and Abduction = 6.4 times (since 2003-2015)
 Robbery= 6.9 times (since 2003-2015)
 Theft =1.7 times (since 2003-2015)

Discussion
Despite various legislations, the crime among juveniles is increasing day by day. Once we considered
that the main cause for such acts of children is poverty but on analyzing data of past 12 years i.e., from
2003- 2015 there are some shocking result not just because of low income but due to the lack of
education and supervision children are prone to such acts. According to Dr.Rajesh kumar: “Across socio-
economic and educational groups children are affected by parents not spending quality time with them
12
and by an increasingly competitive world”
Lower middle class families nowadays are busy in making money and when their children grow up they
didn’t find themselves attached to anyone and they do what they feel good, ignorant of the consequences
of such act.

12
Director, Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses

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In middle class families parents put forward their expectations to the child especially high grades in
school, which often leads depression when they fail to meet their expectations, they try to overcome their
fear of failure by different methods, unknowingly they sometimes opts wrong methods to achieve such
goals and hence such thing lead the child to abuse and then crime and when we come to high- income
families they provide their children every possible luxury whether such things are required or not, and
such parents often fail to teach their basic principles to their children. Such children fail to differentiate
between wrong and right.

Recommendations

 Children shall be given proper education, to avoid delinquency among them.

 School dropouts should be given proper guidance regarding anti-social behaviour
 Proper Rehabilitation centers need to be opened with motive of transforming the delinquent into
better human.
 Person looking after those delinquents shall provide them healthy atmosphere.
 Parents should look after their child properly and they need to create lovable surroundings at
home.

References
Becker, G. (1968). Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach. Journal of Political Economy
76(2):169-217.

Camenor and Phillips (2002).The Impact of Income and Family Structure on Delinquency.Journal of
Applied Economics, Vol. V, No.2 (Nov 2002), 209-232

Juby, Heather and David P. Farrington. (2001). “Disentangling the Link between Disrupted Families and
Delinquency.” British Journal of Criminology. 41: 22-40.

Narayana KS. Dimensions of juvenile problems: institutional and non-institutional.Soc Welfare.2005; 51

(10): 13 – 25.

Levitt, S. and L. Lochner. (2000). The Determinants of Juvenile Crime. In J. Gruber (Ed.), "Risky Behavior
by Youths. University of Chicago Press.

Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental

taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 4, 674-701.

Tomovic VA. Definitions in sociology: convergence, conflict and alternative vocabularies, 1979, Diliton
Publications Inc.St. Catherine Ontario.

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Peiser N. (2001). The impact of family relations and personality factors on delinquent behavior among
youth. University of Wollongong.

Weatherburn D. and Lind B. (1997).Social and Economic Stress, Child Neglect and Juvenile
Delinquency.NSW Bureau of Crime statistics and Research, Attorney General’s Department

Wright, Kevin N. and Karen E. Wright.(1994). Family Life, Delinquency, and Crime: A Policymakers
Guide. Research Summary. Washington DC: OJJDP 4-21.

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