Tamana Ajaz
Juvenile institutions are the greatest creations of mankind. They are the institutions meant for the re-formation of kids who have committed serious offences. We often might misunderstand it as a prison for juveniles which in no case is true at all as they are based completely on a different philosophical concept where the kids under the age of 18 are taught to re-establish their life and learn to be better citizens of the society. Every coin has two sides and similar to that our lives aren’t any different and offence can be committed/done by anyone, irrespective of what economic class they belong to. It can be committed by a person who has nothing and by a person who holds every thing in his life. We live in times where certain things can be assured but there are a lot of things which still remain unheard. The juvenile institution of Kashmir is different from the other Juvenile institutions which are present all over the world. Why? I thought over this question and recalled a meeting with a boy who wanted to be a photographer but ended up in the reformation institution as he happens to be a victim of conflict. The world is filled with all sorts of offenders varying from pickpockets to killers who are rightfully dealt in accordance to the law but the difference can be seen when the psychology of a child is disturbed due to the chaos caused by the conflict.
It is no lie that Kashmir has been a land of conflict and changing times have changed a lot of things. These changes have been witnessed in juvenile institutions too where from having just one juvenile institution we are growing towards the availability of juvenile institutions in all the districts of Kashmir where the Juvenile delinquents are made aware of the rights they hold and are further made aware of how they aren’t going to be in any manner treated like prisoners rather a child friendly approach is used to help them understand and not fall into any guilt which can leave a psychological scar. Understanding the juvenile delinquents can be quite a difficult task when we look from the other perspective. On hearing what sort of offence has been committed we are too quick to present a judgement irrespective of having the insights of what the child’s mental state has been like, where the child has been all this time and how he/she has been raised. Juvenile offences in Kashmir range from theft to murder cases , unlawful acts, narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and sexual violence.
The offences committed by juvenile delinquents have shown a rise over the past years because of the changes which go unmonitored by parents and teachers. As mentioned earlier, the age of Juvenile delinquents is under 18 and we are aware that a kid is in his/her school during these years and when we talk in terms of parents they look after the kid in terms of various aspects like providing financial stability, emotional stability and, health of the child. Further a parent is to make sure the child is not becoming a victim or any offender in any manner. Further, when we talk in terms of care taken by a teacher, school is addressed as a second learning institution after home and for children who are under the age of 18, they spend most of their time in school with their teachers and peers. A teacher’s role is of utmost importance as he/she tends to monitor a Child’s behaviour and further can have better insights of what peer group the child is a part of and what kind of behaviour is the child potraying. The parents and teachers can stop a lot of juvenile offences by being more attentive towards the children and hearing them out as to what are the challenges they are facing.
In the process of understanding what leads a child to commit an offence, in first place it wasn’t a surprise when the reasons were revealed stating disturbed family dynamics, psychological issues, bad peer influence, social media(when not monitored), conflict and nurture. No kid is raised to commit an offence, it is the negligence and poor control which shapes the child and makes it okay for him to believe that certain things are right even if it costs anyones life or for their own.
When we look at the juvenile offences committed in Kahsmir in terms of gender, the ratio is very low for females. This is because of the various reasons varying from not really suspecting females as compared to males, and letting go of the females because of the stigma in terms of labelling where people start calling them out rather than helping them reestablish as the lawful citizens. The scenario of female delinquents has been found to be mostly involved in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, where indeed we do witness some partiality only because the society over the years still does not seem to digest the fact that women can commit offence. Letting go of female delinquents can be really of great harm to the society as they might start believing that they are either ways going to be set-free which can promote their behaviour in committing offence.
The Juvenile judiciary has changed over the years from taking a juvenile delinquent to a regular court to then being taken to juvenile courts which are more child friendly. It is no exception that offenders are approached in a biased manner by certain people and are looked down for the offence they have committed but when we talk in terms of juvenile offenders the dynamics are different as biologically and psychologically they are immature and do not have much of the insights of how to establish a life. In the process where they are in their reformation phase, a mature step is to be taken in order to leave a mark that things can be dealt with wise decisions and treating them any different can have a bad impact on them.
Children who are victims of conflict are different than those of other offenders as they are charged under unlawful acts and are always in constant fear that is even if proven innocent at some point the record for them has been made and they are going to fall in the pit of charges again. Unlike other juvenile offenders, they won’t get to live a life where they won’t be suspected time and again. Rather uncertainty for them rises everyday where they are unsure of what the next moment holds for them. Offenders are present everywhere but it doesn’t mean that they are to be looked down upon or provoked. The art of understanding the psychology of children and help them to be better humans is what counts at the end of the day. The judiciary is well aware of the ways as to how to deal with a juvenile delinquent. Moreover taking the law in our hands can not really do any good to the society.
Lastly, our kids are our responsibility and to think that we should let them be and let them grow as individuals is a nice thought but being neglectful and not realising when to stop them is going to be impactful not just to the future which stands before them but the life they are living.
(The author is pursuing Bachelors in Clinical Psychology)
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