There has been an increasing trend in juvenile crime and recidivism in India. Recidivism means going back to committing crime repeatedly where as juvenile crime is basically involvement of under-aged in criminal activities. There has been sharp increase in juvenile crimes where as juvenile recidivism has reduced while there is a rise in the overall recidivism rate from 7.2 % in 2013 to 7.8 % in 2014.
Juvenile crimes are seen more in poor and uneducated section of the society. About 55% of the juvenile crimes were done by those belonging to poor section of the society. The annual income of such families being around Rs. 25000. Half of them have dropped their schooling before primary education. Thus they will be ineligible for PM MODI’s skill development program. The minimum qualification required there is 10th standard. Government on the other hand instead of handling this issue has been thinking to make amendments on juvenile age by reducing it from 18 to 16. A bill in this regard has already been passed in lower house and is waiting to be passed in the upper house.
The upward trend in recidivism is because of lack of economic safety after the convicts are being released from jail. The convicts can neither acquire trust of people nor does the government provide any special scheme for such convicts which lead them back to the dark path of crime. However, recidivism is a global concern. Different countries deal with it in different way but India seems to be ignorant in any providing any special schemes for them. For instance, the mayor of Philadelphia said that he would give employers of such convicts $10000 tax credits. Though it would cost high to the nation but it’s for the greater good of the Philadelphia. In India, 3790812 people were arrested out of which 234896 had served jail once, 47884 went to jail twice and 12930 were convicts for three or more times. Overall percentage of recidivists is 7.8%, about 8% rise from last year.
The research works and surveys on many juveniles have shown that they become more offensive after the court trials and the correction session in the prison. And the probability of such juveniles returning back to crime is high. This shows that there are flaws in the correction procedures and tedious court procedure even for juveniles. This puts a question mark on the future of the society. But where does the real flaw exist? Is it our government policy, prosecution system or the flaw is inherent in our society? Are our mind broadened enough to give them another chance to live a normal life in the “so called” modern society?
Aren’t we and our society really responsible for this? We can throw food in the dustbins but won’t give it to the beggar standing next the complex. Being a part of the society, don’t we have a responsibility to put it on the right track? Isn’t it high time that we took a stand, if not for them but for our society of which we are part of? There is a common saying that “no one is a criminal by birth”, and it’s true.
