Thursday, March, 28,2024

Juvenile delinquency a complex social problem

New Delhi: Juvenile delinquency is not just about law and order but also a complex social problem with no onestop solution. On one hand, poverty, deprivation, widening gap between the rich and poor, homelessness, illiteracy or lack of education, lure of easy money and sex by extreme exposure to porn and violence, availability of drugs and liquor etc. blur the line between sanity and criminality, while on the other, lack of institutional framework to handle juvenile crime with the sensitivity it needs spawns hardened criminals even as the reformatory purpose of juvenile homes stands defeated.

There are organised cartels paying huge sums to poor parents to lease out their kids for criminal activities. There are intricate police-politico-criminal nexuses too at play, which weaken the justice system and keep the vested interests at work.

Once out of remand home, the juveniles are often left unattended and for want of an ecosystem to assimilate them into the mainstream through productive engagement, they revert to criminality.

Crime is rooted in the social system it grows out of and more equitable and accommodating a society is, better are the chances of a safer life. The AAP government is doing its bit to ensure a better life to all, especially the middle and lower middle class populace, but the dark underbelly of crime is so ingrained in the 21st century narrative of Delhi and the intertwined layers of socioeconomic tapestry are so symbiotic, no one seems to have a clue on how to effectively wean away youngsters from the bottomless pit of crime.

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