Understanding Juvenile Delinquency: Causes And Concern

Modern societies seem to look at young people in a rather ambivalent manner. The last decades of the twentieth century provided us with a couple of telling examples from several countries. On the one hand, the children and juveniles are viewed as needing care and protection. If they become delinquent, educational measures are seen to be the appropriate if not pivotal answer to the problems they are causing or may suffer from. This is the prevailing attitude among the general population in the majority of countries in the world, so long as the offences committed by youngsters do not rise steeply in numbers and remain petty or moderate in quality. On the other hand, more serious crimes cause public concerns, and may even spark outrage when considered to be disgraceful; even more when attributable to the youth with a history of repeat offending. Hence, the present study aims to examine the causes of juvenile delinquency, the approach towards their rehabilitation or reformation and the way they are treated by the present legal system.

Introduction

Delinquency in children is a very serious and complex problem which cannot easily be solved by law alone. This could very well be understood as an outcome of various factors namely socio-economic, cultural, environmental and political, which yet has not been addressed and identified.

It has been found that any child who has suffered injury in the frontal cortex before age seven develop abnormal behaviour resulting in frustration, anger and aggression (Khushid, 2008) . Also according to the Neuro-Science this prefrontal cortex is that part of the brain which fully matures in the last.

So, the background factors have greater impact on the development of the child. These factors can very well transform one into serious or hardcore offender of tomorrow. According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the United Nations standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, Juvenile Justice System should respect the human rights of juveniles, pursue the best interest of juveniles and promote diversion systems or community treatments for them.

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Understanding Juvenile Delinquency: Causes And Concern