TEENAGE CRIMES IN INDIA

Child crime is categorised as a juvenile offence in India. In other words, criminal offences committed by kids under a certain age are referred to as child crimes. But the issue of who counts as a child starts to surface. Is there an age restriction for this, either minimum or maximum? In India, kids of all ages have been classified as child criminals. For instance, in India, a child must be 14 years old and cannot be older than 18 to be considered a criminal. There are therefore no broad generalisations about the minimum and maximum ages of juvenile offenders. A crime committed by a youngster under a specific age is categorically referred to as child crime. According to Section 2 (l3) of the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2015, a child who is accused of committing an offence or is proven to have done so and was under the age of 18 when the offence was committed is considered to be “a child in conflict with the law.”

In India, there are numerous petty and major crimes comitted on a regular basis, including theft, burglary, snatching, robbery, dacoity, murder, and rape. What’s even more horrifying is that all of these crimes are committed by minors under the age of 18. Additionally, there is a tendency for teenagers between the ages of 16 and 18 to be more involved in heinous criminal offences. Of the 43,506 offences committed against children under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, and the Special Local Law (SLL) by juveniles in 2019, 28,830 were committed by people in the aforementioned age group, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau.

Crimes may be committed by teenagers. While some of these crimes are committed by juveniles as well as adults, others are primarily motivated by the juveniles’ age or other circumstances. To find out more about their legal options in the juvenile justice system, people who are accused of committing juvenile offences might want to get in touch with a criminal defence attorney.

Larceny

Stealing, often known as larceny, is one of the most frequent offences committed by young people. They might rob shops or other people. They might go after easily discardable and frequently cheap products. It’s possible that these crimes go unreported or undiscovered. If there are no repercussions for the petty theft, the adolescent may increase the value of the objects that they steal. Statistics show that the most frequent crime committed by young people is theft.

Assault

Assault is another typical adolescent offence. Fighting is more common among teenagers. If the altercation took place at school, a resource officer may be contacted. Assaulting victims could be a component of other crimes like theft or handbag snatching. Some young offenders engage in bullying behaviour at school, which may include physical harm, emotional harm, or taunting. Juvenile justice system participants may struggle with authoritative figures, which may lead to an altercation with an adult.

Illegal acquisitions

Teenagers frequently engage in risky activity or desire to participate in things that they are too young to do as part of their rite of passage. Teenagers may attempt to obtain prohibited items like cigarettes or alcohol. They might try to persuade elderly folks to purchase these products on their behalf, or they might try to make these purchases using false identities.

They might engage in drug use in other circumstances. They might be detained for having it. Gangs may target young individuals to use as drug couriers who transport illegal narcotics between multiple sites. Teenagers may develop a drug addiction.

Additional Drug and Alcohol Offenses

Other drug and alcohol offences may be committed by teenagers. They can be accused of having alcohol or narcotics in their possession. They can be detained for acting erratically while intoxicated. Car accidents caused by alcohol are frequent. DUI arrests may occur in teenagers. Many states have zero tolerance legislation, meaning that even very small amounts of alcohol, like a blood alcohol content of 0.02, are deemed legally impairing.

violent offences

Teenagers could participate in violent crimes. They might have endured maltreatment and be angry. They can have a drug addiction and turn to violent acts like robbery or assault to earn money for drugs. They could engage in territorial disputes with other drug dealers. Adolescents may use firearms to harm or murder others.

Teenagers may engage in severe assault, which includes attacks that result in substantial bodily harm to the victims or involve the use of a weapon.

School shootings, other mass killings, and other violent crimes are all possible among teenagers. Teenagers may also engage in other violent offences, such as auto theft.

Sexual Crimes

Teenagers may engage in sexual offences. They might exhibit sexual behaviour with others because they experienced sexual abuse. They might be irresponsible and sext pornographic images of themselves or others, which could result in charges of possessing child pornography. They might engage in sexual assault or rape. Teenagers who engage in prostitution run the risk of being drawn into sex trafficking.

Status Infractions

Due to this reason, some juvenile crimes are predicated on the teen’s age and regulations that apply to them. For instance, if they skip too many days of school, they can be accused of truancy. If they are out past their curfew, they could face charges of violating the rules. If they defy their parents, they might be accused of being incorrigible. For reasons including unruly behaviour, drug usage, simple assault, theft, or curfew violations, around half of all juvenile arrests are made.

Vandalism

Teenagers may engage in vandalism alone or in groups. They might spray-paint graffiti on homes, buildings, or other real estate.

Considerations Particular to Juvenile Offenses

Misdemeanor offences include a large number of juvenile crimes. However, young people are capable of committing significant felonies. In general, juvenile offences do not carry the same penalties as adult offences. The juvenile offender’s rehabilitation is the primary goal of the juvenile justice system. Alternative punishments for the juvenile, such as community service, educational programmes, rehabilitation courses, payment of fines, or rehabilitation, may be available instead of incarceration in a juvenile detention facility.

Indian adolescent crime trends and causes

Nobody has the ability to become a criminal from birth. Their personalities are the result of their circumstances. One’s life and overall personality are greatly influenced by the sociocultural environment, both inside and outside of the home. According to Healy and Bronner, the causes of juvenile crimes include bad company, adolescent instability and impulses, early sex experience, mental conflicts, extreme social suggestibility, a love of adventure, movies, school dissatisfaction, poor recreation, street life, vocational dissatisfaction, sudden impulse, and various physical conditions. However, in India, youth involvement in illicit activities is encouraged by poverty and the media’s influence, particularly social media. One of the main causes of a child’s involvement in criminal conduct is poverty. Additionally, social media’s current use, which harms young brains more than it helps.

The youth criminality dilemma requires cautious treatment

Currently, a significant portion of the population is calling for teenagers between the ages of 16 and 18 to be treated as adults when they have been found guilty of heinous crimes like rape, gang rape, murder, dacoity, and so on. The aforementioned consideration was made since it has been demonstrated in multiple recent incidents that juveniles in the 16–18 age range are actively participating in serious crimes with full knowledge and maturity. Children’s levels of maturity have changed from those of 10 to 20 years ago as a result of the impact of the internet and social media. In today’s sociocultural environment, a child’s mental development occurs early.

Creating a safe and nurturing environment in the home is the most important thing parents can do to protect their children’s development. The importance of protective factors in the family and their positive impact on children’s development and wellbeing have been emphasised by a number of theorists.

Law enforcers and state actors must be considerate, cautious, and courteous while dealing with juvenile offenders if they are to slow the rising trend of juvenile crimes in India. Instead of using deterrence, they ought to take a reformatory strategy in order to improve society.

Indian child crime cases

While some notable cases have been highlighted below and garnered media coverage, there are still a great number of juvenile criminal cases in India that have gone unreported.

1. On December 16, 2012, a teenager and some of his friends kidnapped, raped, and killed a girl on a moving bus in south Delhi.
2. On November 29, 2013, a group of five children in Mayur Vihar killed a jeweler’s wife and fled with 50 kg of silver jewellery and Rs. 10 lakh in cash after breaking out of a juvenile home amid riots and fires.
3. On October 17, 2015, two young people in Nangloi were charged with rape following the kidnapping of a baby.
4. On December 24, 2015, three armed borderline juveniles shot and killed a police officer inside a courtroom at the Karkardooma complex.
5. On February 24, 2016, a 17-year-old kid who had been discharged from a juvenile facility for “good behaviour” murdered a senior citizen in BK Dutt Colony in south Delhi.
6. On March 24, 2016, four minors were discovered to have been implicated in the death by beating of a doctor in Vikaspuri.
7. On April 6, 2016, two young people are accused of shooting an Uber driver in the Mundka neighbourhood, dumped the body, and then drove off in the car.
8. On August 29, 2017, two Bollywood celebrities’ kids were accused of brutally beating a classmate, and the police are now looking into the case. The son of an actor is one of these kids, and the son of a cameraman is the other.
9. On December 22, 2017, a 22-year-old lady in northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri neighbourhood said she was raped by five persons, including four children.

Indian laws impose penalties for juvenile criminals

The most significant post-independence legislation addressing juvenile criminality was the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000, which brought the nation into compliance with the Child Rights Convention of 1989. According to this law, anyone under the age of 18 was considered a minor and was never permitted to participate in an adult trial. After the “Nirbhaya Delhi Gang Rape Case,” which horrified the entire nation on December 16, 2012, this clause caused controversy in India.

The Juvenile Justice Act of 2000 needs to be reexamined, according to the

Supreme Court’s observation in the case of Gaurav Kumar v. State of Haryana (2015), as it had failed to deter children in the nation from committing both minor and serious offences. The Indian Parliament passed the “Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015” as a result of the involvement of a person under the age of 18 in such a terrible crime as rape and the Apex Court’s viewpoint. The prior juvenile statutes were repealed by this Act, along with some other significant changes.

One of the most important changes was that a juvenile between the ages of 16 and 18 would be tried as an adult if they were accused of committing a serious crime.

The Juvenile (Care and Protection) Act of 2015’s Section 2, Subsection 12 defines a “kid” as a person who has not yet turned 18 years old. According to the Act, the term “child” is separated into two categories:

A child “in conflict with the law,” and “a child in need of protection and care,” respectively.

A child who has committed an offence and was under the age of 18 at the time of the offence is referred to as a “child in confrontation with the law.” The second group is a “child in need of care and protection,” as defined by

Section 14 of the Act. The maximum term for juvenile offenders under the Act is three years, and both serious and insignificant offences are subject to this sentence. The maximum sentence that can be given to an adult offender is seven years in prison, life in prison, or the death penalty.

In Roper v. Simmons (2005), the Supreme Court held that each adolescent should be evaluated on an individual basis based on their maturity level, IQ, life experience, feelings of moral responsibility, and prior history rather than being lumped into a single category. As a result, the idea of providing individualised care for adolescents is carefully taken into account.

Judiciary’s perspective on current juvenile offender punishments

After serving the Court-specified sentence of jail, the youngster was ultimately released.

Due to the lack of awareness of the laws regarding such heinous crimes committed by so-called “children,” attorney Shweta Kapoor filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court asking for changes to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000, to deal with children who have reached the age of 16 and are involved iIn the 2017 Nirbhaya rape case, also known as Mukesh and Anr vs. State of NCT of Delhi & Ors, it was argued that the accused’s age should not be used as a defence for the degree of cruelty he inflicted on the victim. He was found to have thrown insults at the woman, physically tormented her with an iron rod, and broken her insides. n serious crime. According to the PIL, “juveniles who commit serious crimes after turning 16 have well-developed minds and do not need society’s care and protection. Instead, society needs to take precautions and be protected from them.

The Shakti Mills rape case, also known as State of Maharashtra vs. Vijay Mohan Jadhav & Ors (2021), involved a young child who was allegedly involved in a horrific act of rape. One of the alleged rapists in the case was a child. One of the main defendants in this case was a juvenile who received just three years in a juvenile detention centre while the adult offenders received death sentences. The issue that arises is whether the current sanctions are adequate to change a young person.

The definition of the word “heinous” is another issue that needs to be taken into account. To be tried as an adult, a 16- to 18-year-old must be accused of a serious crime. The 2015 Act’s Section 2(33) states that “those offences for which the minimum sentence under the IPC, 1860 or any other legislation now in force is imprisonment for seven years or more” would be regarded as heinous offences. It is definitely a victory for the Indian legal system to permit a 16- to 18-year-old to be prosecuted as an adult in some circumstances, but the definition of heinous seems to be flawed. This was shown in the 2018 court case Saurabh Jalinder Nangre v. Maharashtra. Due to the fact that the offence constituted attempted murder, which is punished under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Bombay High Court was debating whether or not to send the juvenile to children’s court. According to the court, none of the petitioners—who are all between the ages of 16 and 18—have committed terrible crimes in this case, thus their case is not covered by Section 15 of the 2015 Act and cannot be transferred to a children’s court. The Sangli Juvenile Justice Board will therefore conduct the probe.

“Despite the fact that they intended to kill someone and create irreparable harm, the Court in this case decided to treat the 17-year-olds as minors and spare them the punishment they deserved.

It is important to note that using such a definition gives the impression that crime is the result of an age cycle while in reality it is what a type causes you to do, and 16 is adequate for a person to be conscientious and weigh good and wrong.

Judiciary issued strict guidelines regarding juvenile offenders

In the case of Bodhisattwa Gautam v. Subhra Chakraborty, it was determined that the crime of rape violated the Right to Life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution (1995). Fundamental rights have precedence over any other rights that may be protected by other laws, according to the Supreme Court of India. The broad immunity granted to the minors was therefore viewed as violating the Constitution.

In Ram Prasad Sahu v. State of Bihar (1979), the Supreme Court decided that a young offender could be found guilty of both rape and attempted rape. Giving a minor blanket exemption when they are capable of committing rape or murder but are not eligible for punishment goes against the fairness and proportionality of punishment principles.

Many recent crimes against women, including rape, acid attacks, violent killings, and sexual harassment have included juveniles.  To address this threat, Section 18(3) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 stipulates that if a juvenile is found to have committed a heinous crime and is older than 16, the Juvenile Board may transfer the case to a Children’s Court where they may send him to a place of safety after conducting a preliminary assessment with respect to their mental and physical capacity to commit such an offence, ability to understand the consequences of the offence, and the circumstances in which the juvenile was found to have committed the offence.

Conclusion

The Indian government is making efforts to improve the country’s juvenile crime issue. Even if juvenile crime has declined recently, there are still certain problems that need to be solved. Pornography and bad movies are prohibited, and the government is taking action to provide kids with enjoyable entertainment options like games and competitions. Additionally, each district has a child guidance centre and offers the necessary training to those who may be impacted.

Due to its actual effects on society, which include preserving order without condoning brutality, and on the offender, which include deterring or facilitating their reform, punishment must defend itself. The moral justification for punishment can be found in its effects, as well as in how it helps to reduce crime and reintegrate criminals into society. It is based on an anticipatory hypothesis. It assesses the potential good that youth can provide to society in the future. Collaboration between governmental organisations, educational institutions, police enforcement, the courts, social workers, and nonprofit organisations is essential for the prevention of juvenile crime.