To understand and describe the concept of ‘children in conflict with law’.
The general understanding that could be inferred about children in conflict with law is that more than biological factors social and psychological factors play the key role in creating tendencies towards offending among children. The major factors that are responsible for the same includes uncertain economic condition, lack of parental care particularly absence of father, adolescent issues and lack of proper guidance, peer group influence, influence of the simulations created by the modern market – especially via technological aids. Due to the in appropriate mechanisms and implementation rehabilitative efforts are found to be in-adequate and outdated to re-integrate the child. It is found that sometimes the authorities adopts inhuman punishment methods to control the child but this makes them more depleted and increases the tendencies of offending, particularly to take revenge on the society which is not ready to include them.
Socio economic profile of Children in conflict with law.
The socio economic profile of the respondents give the researcher new insights. From the ten respondents in which researcher took the data, majority are from the age group of 14-18.
According to the ministry of women and child development, the juvenile crime is increasing in our country and most of the crimes may be attributed to the inclusion of boys aged 16-18 years. The fact remain that the rate of juvenile crimes is fairly high and more in 16-18 category are coming in conflict with law. According to Ganong and Coleman adolescent children were generally found to exhibit more externalizing behaviour. Majority of the cases taken up for the study proves this fact as almost 90% of the respondents shows such behavioral patterns.
The economic back ground that they are coming too has a significant impact over the molding of these children as it could be seen from the respondents who hails from economically depleted families which has created in them a greed for making money by any means.
Children conflict with law are the products of broken families strained family relations and most of them don’t have their fathers with them either deceased or deserted. This has made these boys either responsible for the entire economic problems of the house hold or estranged to the entire situation.
The study has also revealed that all the respondents are dropouts from schools and have some sort of learning disabilities in them. This has also created an inferiority complex and a feeling of negligence which among a few has resulted in depressive attitudes. In order to overcome the inferiority complex most of the respondents have resorted to becoming rich in order to get an attention in the society and be liked by all.
Factors behind the children in conflict with law
Coming to the peer group pressure, according to Adler and Adler (1998) peer group pressure is other people’s influence including friends on an individual’s life even if the individual doesn’t realize it. Friends provide children with means of entertainment, source of feed back, a feeling of belonging and a foundation of identity.
This is very true as per the study as almost all the respondents have turned in to criminal attitudes and means of living through their peer group interaction mostly with people who are above their age. Presently both the authorities and the children are scared of going back to the place from where they came as they fear the same peer group either to take vengeance or even more to destroy them.
According to Kuper Midst and Dodge, who states that in the case of children with deviant behaviour and antisocial tendencies, rule braking is often the common ground activity that promotes friendship development. These children being the products of unhappy family life resort to such peer groups for the satisfaction of their economic as well as emotional needs.
Substance abuse is another personal factor attributed to the respondents. Most of them are addicted to smoking and drinking. According to Zigler Kagan and Hall (1996) the risk factor for drug use by children can be classified by three variables namely family, individual, and community variable.
Family variable include Family alcohol drug behavior with in the family. For the most of the observants are belonging to the individual variable and are charectarised with lack of social skills, low self-esteem, low sense of self efficiency and aggressiveness. About eight of the respondents are alcoholic and they have transformed their individual variable to community variable (low sense of cohesiveness with community).
Individual who has poor life skills cannot deal with internal and external pressure. Most of the respondents have poor life skills and they are depressed due to this. Zigler and Queloz (1996) states that most crucial aspect of child’s social development involves the child’s family. In the case of the respondents most of them are from broken family, women head family,. due to this their attitude regarding their self significance becomes very low. According to Karen (1995) violence or acts close to it, gives one sense of counting of mattering and of power. This in turn given individual sense of significance. It is the lack of this sense of significance and struggle for that underlies much violence.
According to Benedek and Brown the individual who develop the individual who develop self-esteem as children became adults who are able to manage and take charge of their lives. They will not rely on other people and want to do anything just to be accepted by peers. From the data given by the respondents they are in their present stage due to their actions prompted by their peer group. This influence is also due to the less positioning of self-esteem.
The family factor refers to two or more individual who depend on each other for emotional, physical, and financial support. Inside that family parenting place an important role. According to Can (2000) good parenting provide a warm, secure home life helping the child to learn the rules of life and to develop good self-esteem. In the present study some the respondents have felt parental negligence ill treatment of family members torturing in the name of discipline and emotional distancing.
Another factor is the divorce and absence of father. According to Karen boys who have the opportunity with their father at an early stage and thus grow up with a positive model are less likely to need to prove themselves to other or to themselves. The cases 1,2,4 and 8 committed the offence after the death of their father. According to Benedik and Brown (1995) boys in homes when father is absent may be less competitive, less interested in sports and more aggressive. Moreover this boys may perform less at school and be more difficult to discipline.
Single parenting is another factor identified. Cases 1,2,4, and 8 have experience d single parenting. Benedik and Brown States that the children’s development of a healthy self image and the ability form stable, loving relationship with others as they grow up depend on having continued access to the important attachment figures in their life- mother and father. In most of the cases children witnessed domestic violence inside the house and many of them never felt that their parents care for them. In the case of step-parenting (case 2), the impact of step-parenting, they started their delinquent behaviour after their mother was married to another person. Studies reveals that when the step-parents have no control over the children then they can go out and engage in deviant behaviour.
U.S. senate (1973) stated that any act of commission or omission by individual, institution or society as an whole and any condition resulting from such acts or in action which deprive children of equal rights and liberties and for interfere with their optional development constitute abuse or neglectful conditions. All of the respondents have experienced neglect
Karen add that low socio- economic status is far more potent risk factor for violence than it is generally recognized.
Researcher found that the poverty is the basic cause of their behaviour. Belonging to low income family, working parents with less salary etc resulted in the child delinquent behaviour. Community has a major role in individual behavior.
Zigler Etal (1993) observe that children who are chronically exposed to high level of environment experience antisocial behaviour. Stanhop and Lan Caster (2000) state that smoking among teens has risen steadily since 1990s and that tobacco is considered a gateway drug to other substance and high risk behaviour. From the data the researcher noted that among the ten respondents 8 of them having a habit of drinking and smoking. Labeling and rejection of the community prevents the reintegration of children in conflict with law in to the society.
The government re habilitation programme in the juvenile justice institutions of Kerala failed due to de stigmatization. Every children in conflict with is attached to stigma and many of them are not ready to give them job, this forced the child to repeat the offence. Respondents suffered physical tortured from the police according to their sharing.
The children who cannot perform well under pressure condition at school. In the case of these respondents their family condition, economic uncertainties, and absence of parental care puts them in pressure.
Rehabilitation Mechanism and its effectiveness in juvenile justice institutions.
Juvenile justice Act laid special emphasis on rehabilitation and social integration of children and has provided for the institutional and non-institutional measures for care and protection of children. The non institutional alternatives include adoption, foster care, sponsorship and after care. The act also envisages a system of partnership with local communities and local governments to implement the legislations.
Adoption is the process through which the adopted child is permanently separated from his/her biological parents and becomes the legitimate child of his adoptive parents with all rights and privileges and responsibilities that are attached to the relationships.
According to the amendment 2000 the state government shall recognize one or more of its institutions or voluntary organizations in each districts as specialized adoption agencies for the placement of orphans, abandoned, surrendered children for adoption.
In the case of children above seven years and who is willing to stay with a relative of his/her family and if that family is also willing to take the child on foster care, the childe can be released from the home and placed under the foster care of his relative family. In deserving cases the competent authority can relax any of the above conditions as regard to the selection of foster parents considering the best interest of the child.
Sponsorship services shall be considered to supplement the resources of the child and his/her parents or guardian so as to support effort to re integrate the child in to community and finance his/her education, vocational training, health care etc. or to supplement the family income to encourage parent or guardian to fulfill their responsibility to the child.
The government shall establish after care organizations to take care of juveniles or children in conflict with law after they leave special homes.
Due to the issues like stigmatization, pre-occupation regarding children in special homes it seems that no body comes forward to adopt or foster care a child from special home. Since they have learning disabilities the sponsorship programmes are also not effective.
After care organizations are normally intend for orphans but from the study it seems that majority of them are non- orphans and they could not be taken to such organizations.
Juvenile justice institution provides rehabilitation programmes for both special homes and observation homes. In special home the rehabilitation process can be implemented effectively as the inmates sentenced for a considerably long duration (up to 3 years). Vocational training is an effective method of rehabilitation, but the existing mode of vocational training are inadequate to cater the job aspirations of the inmates since it depends on old methods and disinterest of authorities.
With all these provisions existing within the special homes/observation home the respondents have a different story to speak. There is a mixed response of the attitude of the authorities towards them but all of them agree to the fact that they are considered as criminals who will not make any good for the society. Some have even faced with very inhuman punishments as they claim that “we were punished so as we are coming from poor families”.
A majority of them opines that the existing rehabilitation within the system is traditional and outdated and are not useful for making a living out of those skills that are taught within the ‘homes’.
The concept of ‘traffic warden’ has been introduced for bringing a different atmosphere for the children but the authorities are of the opinion that the children were interested for a few days but later on they showed no interest in it.
FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION
To analyze the socio-economic profile of children in conflict with law.
- All the respondents are from low income group and experienced an uncertainty in income
- All of them lacks paternal care
· All of them have a strained family back ground
To describe factors behind children in conflict with law.
· Personal factors: This includes peer group pressure, substance abuse such as alcoholism and drugs, low self-esteem, aggressive behaviour.
· Family factors: Divorce, lack of parental discipline and guidance, step parenting. Father modeling deviant behaviour,
· Community factors: Community with high level of violence for some of the respondents, labeling children, stigmatization, rejection from friends and society.
· Police service factor: Inhuman torturing, unsincere attitude
· Educational factor: Absence of system to identify problem children, children expelled from children were not given an alternative
· Negative influence by the simulations of modern marketism
To understand rehabilitation mechanism and its effectiveness in juvenile justice institutions
· In appropriate and out dated rehabilitative mechanisms
· Due to stigmatization and pre occupation of society none functioning of non institutional rehabilitation.
· Rehabilitation is inducing some changes over the children but once they are out of the homes the same environment which made them deviants awaits out side, this nullify the rehabilitative efforts.
SUGGESTIONS
· There should be a mechanism to treat the school drop outs to ensure that they are not becoming antisocial.
· There should be an induction mechanism in special homes otherwise it is found that they are not able to find meaning in what is happening inside.
· The authorities who are in charge of rehabilitation should be professionally trained this could avoid the mechanical implementation of rehabilitation.
· There should be some alternative rehabilitative mechanisms in observation homes which house these children for a vey short time period. Thus the rehabilitative programmes in these homes should be catering and fulfilling the short time period so that it would be having an effective impact over these children.
· Conclusion
Children in any society are considered to be the creators of the future of that society. These children who came into conflict with law have gone through different life experiences and situations which are unlike in the cases for other children in the mainstream society.
Mostly dropouts, they hail from poor socio- economic background and are the products of unhappy family and society. Most of them are born in to economically unstable and educationally backward families were most often the parental relations are strained. When they do not have a sound family to relay upon they go in search of and depend on other members in the society who influence them in many ways and in most cases have a negative over them. They associate with people who are above their age and other peers who lead a luxurious life through unlawful means and have undesirable habits. From this one could easily conclude that the theory of Social Learning is very true with these children. The Social disorganization theory also stands valid as the larger social environment, community and their families have a very strong influence in the making of these child deviants. The tendency to acquire more money and increase their standard of living are all examples of this .As in the case of any crime, more than the biological factors the social, economic and psychological factors contribute to the deviant tendency in any individual. There is high level of stigmatization in the society for these children, and they fear of going back to their place of origin as they say that the society would be the same even if they change for the better. The reformative mechanisms that are adopted within these corrective homes have been found to be outdated and not useful for making a decent living in the present day society. The short duration of the period of punishment could be effectively utilized by implementing the relevant courses which are short spanned and would facilitate them to pick up a job later on.
Humane means of treatment and better counseling practices within theses ‘homes’ would create a significant impact over these children. Instead further treatment of these children as criminals would worsen the situation and create a self- esteem within them which is not desirable for the child as an individual and society as a whole.
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