E-Notes

Class : BBA LLB/ BALLB

Paper Code : LLB409

Subject : CRIMINOLOGY

JUVENILE JUSTICE

PROBATION OF OFFENDERS ACT,1958

The Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 contains elaborate provisions relating to probation of
offenders, which are made applicable throughout the country. We will now observe the salient
features of the Act.
 The Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 is intended to reform the amateur offenders
byproviding rehabilitation in society and to prevent the conversion of youthful offenders
into obdurate criminals under environmental influence by keeping them in jails along
with hardened criminals.
 ·It aims to release first offenders, after due admonition or warning with advice, who
arealleged to have committed an offence punishable under Sections 379, 380, 381, 404 or
Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and also in case of any offence punishable with
imprisonment for not more than two years, or with fine, or with both.
 This Act empowers the Court to release certain offenders on probation of good
conduct fithe offence alleged to have been committed is not punishable with death or life
imprisonment. However, he/she should be kept under supervision.
 The Act insists that the Court may order for payment by the offender such
compensation and a cost of the proceedings as it thinks reasonable for loss or injury caused
to the victim.

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  The Act provides special protection to persons under twenty-one years of age by not
sentencing them to imprisonment. However, this provision is not available to a person
found guilty of an offence punishable with life imprisonment.
 ·The Act provides freedom to the Court to vary the conditions of bond when an
offender is released on probation of good conduct and to extend the period of probation
not to exceed three years from the date of original order.
 The Act empowers the Court to issue a warrant of arrest or summons to the offender
and his sureties requiring them to attend the Court on the date and time specified in the
summons if an offender released on probation of good conduct fails to observe the
conditions of bond.
 The Act empowers the Court to try and sentence the offender to imprisonment under
the provisions of this Act. Such order may also be made by the High Court or any other
Court when the case comes before it on appeal or in revision.
 The Act provides an important role to the probation officers to help the Court and to
supervise the probationers put under him and to advise and assist them to get suitable
employment.
 The Act extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. This
Act comes into force in a State on such date as the State Government may, by notification
in the Official Gazette, appoint. It also provides liberty to State Governments to bring the
Act into force on different dates in different parts of that State.

Duties of a Probation Officer

Sec 14 of the Act deals with the duties of a probation officer. It states:-

A probation officer shall, subject to such conditions and restrictions, as may be prescribed -

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(a) enquire, in accordance with any directions of a court, into the circumstances or home
surroundings of any person accused of an offence with a view to assist the court in determining
the most suitable method of dealing with him and submit reports to the court;
(b) supervise probationers and other persons placed under his supervision and, where necessary,
endeavour to find them suitable employment;
(c) Advise and assist offenders in the payment of compensation or costs or dered by
the Court;
(d) advise and assist, in such cases and in such manner as may be prescribed, persons who have
been released under section4;
(e) perform such other duties as may be prescribed.

A. JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT: ANOVERVIEW

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 is the primary legal framework
for juvenile justice in India. The Act provides for a special approach towards the prevention and
treatment of juvenile delinquency and provides a framework for the protection, treatment and
rehabilitation of children in the purview of the juvenile justice system. This law, brought in
compliance of the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of them Child(UNCRC),repealed the earlier
Juvenile Justice Act of 1986 after India signed and ratified the UNCRC in1992.This Act has
been further amended in 2006 and2010.

The Act is considered to be extremely progressive legislation and the Model Rules 2007 have
further added to the effectiveness of this welfare legislation. However, the implementation is a
very serious concern even in 2013 and the Supreme Court of India is constantly looking into the
implementation of this law in SampurnaBehrua V. Union of India and
BachpanBachaoAndolan V. Union of India. In addition to the Supreme Court, the Bombay and
Allahabad High

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Courts are also monitoring implementation of the Act in judicial proceedings. In order to upgrade
the Juvenile Justice Administration System, the Government of India launched the Integrated
Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) in 2009-10 whereby financial allocations have been increased
and various existing schemes have been merged under one scheme.
Background:

The first legislation on juvenile justice in India came in 1850 with the Apprentice Act which
required that children between the ages of 10-18 convicted in courts to be provided vocational
training as part of their rehabilitation process. This act was transplanted by the Reformatory
Schools Act, 1897 and later came The Children Act of 1960. The Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 was
the primary legal framework for juvenile justice in India. The Act provided for a special
approach towards the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency and also provided a
framework for the protection, treatment and rehabilitation of children in the purview of the
juvenile justice system. The law replaced the Children Act,1960.

Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 was applied uniformly throughout India except state of Jammu and
Kashmir. Prior to this law each state had its own enactment on juvenile justice with there being
differences in the way juveniles were treated by different state legal systems. In a landmark step,
the Government of India, repealing the juvenile justice Act 1986, introduced juvenile
justice(Care and Protection of Children) Act in 2000 and further, amended , it in 2006, so as to
make it responsive to the emerging needs in the tiled of juvenile justice, and making it,
compatible with UNCRC standards.

AIMS & OBJECTIVE:

The Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 aims at consolidating and amending laws relating to juveniles in
conflict with law, and children in need of care and protection by providing proper care,

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protection and treatment by catering to their developmental needs, by adopting child friendly
approach in adjudication and disposition of matters in the best interest of children, and for their
rehabilitation through various institutional mechanisms established.

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Juvenile can be defined as a child who has not attained a certain age at which he, like an adult
person under the law of the land, can be held liable for his criminal acts. Delinquency is a kind of
abnormality. When an individual deviates from the course of normal social life his behavior is
called ‘Delinquent’. When a juvenile, below an age specified under a statute exhibits behavior
which may prove to be dangerous to society and / or for him, he may be called a Juvenile
delinquent. Juvenile delinquents are those offenders including boys and girls who are under 18
years of age. A Juvenile delinquent is a young person incorrigible or habitually disobedient.

Act of delinquency may include: Running away from home without the permission of parents,
Habitual behavior beyond the control of parents, Spending time idly beyond limits, Use of vulgar
languages, wandering about rail roads, streets market places, Visiting gambling center
, Committing sexual offences, Shop-lifting, Stealing etc.

B. INSTITUTIONAL CARE OFJUVENILES

Government efforts

Below are a few examples of the government’s initiatives in the area of child welfare: India 96

• Child line India Foundation (CIF) is an umbrella organization link between the government and
the NGO National Initiative for Child Protection (NICP), the National Institute for Social
Defense (NISD) and CIF India. Child line is a project of the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment and is a partnership of all government and NGOs working towards protecting the

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rights of children. It includes a 24-hour free phone call service for children in distress. The focus
is on protection and referral services for children;
• Street Children & Juvenile Justice Work Plan – 2000 is a joint effort by the Ministry and
UNICEF;
• The Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) is an autonomous bureau that deals with
matters relating toadoptions;
• Financial assistance to the that a new data collection strategy (VCA) working for intercountry
adoptions;
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) launched on 2nd October 1975. ICDS is a non-
institutional service for children. The main target group of ICDS programmers' are children in
the age group 0-6 years, pregnant women and nursing mothers. The main focus is on children’s
pre- school education, health andnutrition.

Efforts of NGOs

Here are some examples of intervention models of residential care services provided by NGOs
working in the areas of social advocacy and residential care.
• Prayas – New Delhi: Prayas is an example of governmental and NGO partnership in custodial
care (it runs three homes in Delhi). It also provides competence-building training programmes
for childcare functionaries. It undertakes social advocacy for influencing policy changes. •
Balsakha
– Patna, Bihar: works with the government and society for the effective implementation of laws
for children Organises and conducts competence-building training programmes for functionaries.
• St.Catherine’s Home,Mumbai: provides quality residential care services for orphaned girls,
girls committed to care by the court, abused minors, unwed mothers and HIV+ children. St.
Catherine also offers non-institutional services such as adoption and sponsorship.

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• Quality Institutional Care & Alternatives for Children(QIC&AC): refers to a campaign started
in 2002 initiated by CRY nationally and supported by Saathi, Mumbai at the Maharashtrastate
level. It is an initiative taken in collaboration with the State Department of Women and Child
Development. It aims at ensuring quality care in residential institutions for children and in
facilitating family-based and community-based alternatives for social reintegration and
insituational location.
• SOS Children’s Villages of India: is a non-political welfare organisation. It is part of the
worldwide SOS Children’s Villages. Since its inception in 1964, SOS gives the children the next
best thing to a natural family; here the children find a mother substitute and brothers and sisters
to grow up with. There are 32 SOS children’s villages in India.
Children’s Aid Society (CAS) Mumbai: The Central Development Committee of the Children’s
Aid Society, Mumbai is a government-supported NGO. Established in 1927, the Children’s Aid
Society has a long history of running the largest network of observation centres in Asia. At any
one time there are some 500 children living in the observation centres. Some 2,000 children are
housed in seven homes run by the CAS, neglected children, children who are in conflict with law
and mentally challenged children.

C. NON INSTITUTIONALSERVICES

FOSTER CARE

Fostering is an arrangement where by a child lives, usually on a temporary basis, with an

extended or unrelated family member. Such an arrangement ensures that the birth parents do not
lose any of their parent alrights or responsibilities. This arrangement shall cater to children who
are not legally free for adoption, and who step parents are unable to care for them due to illness,
death, desertion by one parent or any other crisis.
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SPONSORSHIP

Reasons for Sponsorship: The sponsorship support shall be provided for the following reasons:

i) Preventive: Sponsorship support will be provided to a family to enable a child to

continue to remain in the family, continue his/her education. This is an effort
towards preventing children from becoming destitute / vulnerable, running away,
forced into child marriage, forced into child work.
ii) Rehabilitative: Children within institutions can also be restored to families with
sponsorship passistance. On the basis of the Individual Care Plan, an institution
shall approach the CWC/JJB to recommend a suitable case to DCPU for
rehabilitation through the sponsorship fund.
ADOPTION

Adoption is a process through which a child who is permanently separated from biological
parents because her/his parents have died, or have abandoned or surrendered her/him,

AFTERCARE

The Juvenile Justice Act provides for an After Care Program for children without family or other
support who leave institutional care after they attain 18 years of age to sustain themselves during
the transition from institutional to independent life. The objective of this after care program is to
enable such children to adapt to the society and to encourage them to move away from an
institution based life. DCPU shall identify suitable voluntary organizations that will run such
After Care Programs. These organisations shall formulate an after-care program for these
children for a period of three years in accordance with the provision laid down under the
Juvenile Justice(Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 and its rules developed by central
and state governments.
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SPECIALISED SERVICES FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS:

A significant number of children are affected/ infected by HIV/AIDS. Many children are affected
by substance abuse or are mentally or physically challenged. Such children are in need of long
term care because of abandonment, death of one or both parents or inability of parents/guardians
to take care of them.

D. UN DECLARATION ON BASIC PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE FOR VICTIMSOF

CRIME AND ABUSE OFPOWER
A. Victims of crime

1. "Victims" means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including
physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their
fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws operative
within Member States, includeing those laws proscribing criminal abuse of power.

2. A person may be considered a victim, under this Declaration, regardless of whether the
perpetrator is identified, apprehended, prosecuted or convicted and regardless of the familial
relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. The term "victim" also includes, where
appropriate, the immediate family or dependants of the direct victim and persons who have
suffered harm in intervening to assist victims in distress or to prevent victimization.
3. The provisions contained here in shall be applicable to all, without distinction of any kind,
such as race, colour, sex, age, language, religion, nationality, political or other opinion, cultural
beliefs or practices, property, birth or family status, ethnic or social origin, and disability. Access
to justice and fair treatment

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4. Victims should be treated with compassion and respect for their dignity. They are entitled to
access to the mechanisms of justice and to prompt redress, as provided for by national
legislation, for the harm that they have suffered.
5. Judicial and administrative mechanisms should be established and strengthened where
necessary to enable victims to obtain redress through formal or informal procedures that are
expeditious, fair, inexpensive and accessible. Victims should be informed of their rights redress
through such mechanisms.
6. The responsiveness of judicial and administrative processes to the needs of victims should be
facilitated by: ( a ) Informing victims of their role and the scope, timing and progress of the
proceedings and of the disposition of their cases, especially where serious crimes are involved
and where they have requested such information; ( b ) Allowing the views and concerns of
victims to be presented and considered at appropriate stages of the proceedings where their
personal interests are affected, without prejudice to the accused and consistent with the relevant
national criminal justice system; ( c ) Providing proper assistance to victims throughout the legal
process; ( d ) Taking measures to minimize inconvenience to victims, protect their privacy, when
necessary, and ensure their safety, as well as that of their families and witnesses on their behalf,
from intimidation and retaliation; ( e ) Avoiding unnecessary delay in the disposition of cases
and the execution of orders or decrees granting awards to victims.
7. Informal mechanisms for the resolution of disputes, including mediation, arbitration and
customary justice or indigenous practices, should be utilized where appropriate to facilitate
conciliation and redress for victims.
Restitution:

8. Offenders or third parties responsible for their behaviour should, where appropriate, make
fair restitution to victims, their families or dependants. Such restitution should include there turn
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property or payment for the harm or loss suffered, reimbursement of expenses incurred as a
result of the victimization, the provision of services and the restoration of rights.
9. Governments should review their practices, regulations and laws to consider restitution as an
available sentencing option in criminal cases, in addition to other criminals actions.
10. In cases of substantial harm to the environment, restitution, if ordered, should include, as far
as possible, restoration of the environment, reconstruction of the infrastructure, replacement of
community facilities and reimbursement of the expenses of relocation,when ever such harm
results in the dislocation of a community.
11. Where public officials or other agents acting in an official or quasi-official capacity have
violated national criminal laws, the victims should receive restitution from the State whose
officials or agents were responsible for the harm inflicted. In cases where the Government under
whose authority the victimizing act or omission occurred is no longer in existence, the State or
Government successor in title should provide restitution to the victims.

Compensation:

12. When compensation is not fully available from the offender or other sources, States should
endeavour to provide financial compensation to: ( a ) Victims who have sustained significant
bodily injury or impairment of physical or mental health as a result of serious crimes; ( b ) The
family, in particular dependants of persons who have died or become physically or mentally
incapacitated as a result of such victimization.
13. The establishment, strengthen in expansion of national funds for compensation to victims
should be encouraged. Where appropriate, other funds may also be established for this purpose,
including in those cases where the State of which the victim is a national is not in a position to
compensate the victim for the harm.
Assistance

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14. Victims should receive the necessary material, medical, psychological and social assistance
through governmental, voluntary, community-based and indigenous means.
15. Victims should be informed of the availability of health and social services and other
relevant assistance and be readily afforded access to them.
16. Police, justice, health, social service and other personnel concerned should receive training to
sensitize them to the needs of victims, and guidelines to ensure proper and promptaid.
17. In providing services and assistance to victims, attention should be given to those who have
special needs because of the nature of the harm inflicted or because of factors such as those
mentioned in paragraph 3 above.

B. Victims of abuse of power

18. "Victims" means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including
physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their
fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that do not yet constitute violations of national
criminal laws but of internationally recognized norms relating to human rights.
19. States should consider incorporating into the national law norms proscribing abuses of power
and providing remedies to victims of such abuses. In particular, such remedies should include
restitution and/or compensation, and necessary material, medical, psychological and social
assistance and support.
20. States should consider negotiating multilateral international treaties relating to victims, as
defined in paragraph18.
21. States should periodically review existing legislation and practices to ensure their
responsiveness to changing circumstances, should enact and enforce, if necessary, legislation
proscribing acts that constitute serious abuses of political or economic power, as well as

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promoting policies and mechanisms for the prevention of such acts, and should develop and
make readily available appropriate rights and remedies for victims of such acts.

F. Prisons

Prisons have been established under three different levels, as enlisted below-

 The Taluka level

 The District Level; and
 The Central Level

These different jails and prisons are alternatively known as-Sub Jails, District Jails and Central
Jails. The infrastructure and various prisoner facilities like various medical, rehabilitations and
security are seen to be better from that of the Sub Jails to the Central Jails.

Apart from these, there are various other types of jails such as the Women’s Jails, Open Jails,
Special Jails and Borstal Schools.

Central Jails-The criteria enlisted for being categorized as a central jails different and varies from
one state to another. But something that has been noticed as a trend in India is that persons who
commit offences that are entitled to a punishment for a long period (that is, a period more than
two years) are more often confined to Central Jails and these jails have a larger capacity and
occupancy than those of other jails. These jails have additional facilities such as rehabilitation.
The largest number of Central Jails are situated in Delhi (16) followed by Madhya Pradesh(11).

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 District Jails- They serve as the primary prisons in the states and the union territories where there
is no availability of Central Jails. Uttar Pradesh has about 57 District Jails,Madhya Pradesh has
about 39 District Jails and Biharh as about31District Jails.

Sub Jails- These jails are smaller in sized and are placed at a sub-divisional area of the states.
There are states that have implemented a relatively higher number of these kinds of jails and
have a very well-organized set-up of prisons even though it is of a lower level than the other
jails. For example, Maharashtra has 100 sub jails, Andhra Pradesh has about 99 and Tamil Nadu
has 96subjails.

Women’s Jails- These are those prisons that look forward to housing exclusively female
prisoners. These prisons may be existing at a sub-divisional, central and district level. India has a
total of 20 Women’s Jails in India with capacity of 5200womenandhasan occupancy rate of 60%.
As Women’s Jails have a very limited capacity, women prisoners in India are often housed in
other prisons. Maharashtra has about 5 women’s jails, whereas Kerala and Tamil Nadu have
about 3 jails each.
Borstal School- They are a type of a youth detention centre and are used for incarcerating and
housing minors and juveniles. Borstal schools make sure that juveniles and other young offenders
are ensured sufficient care, welfare and rehabilitation. This is to ensure that they are kept in an
environment that is volatile and safe. The juveniles in such schools are provided with reformational
training, education and moral influence that conducive and prevent crime rates. Tamil Nadu is
known as having the highest occupancy with about 678 inmates.
Functions of prisons: The basic functions of prisons today are as follows: Social isolation and
confinement, i.e., to isolate an offender from society because he
hasprovedtobeathreattoitsorganisation,stability,andcohesion,andtokeephimout of circulation and so
securely confined that his deviation from law does notdisturb the peace of mind of the man in the
street. Page 14 of 17
i. Repentance, i.e., to keep an offender in an isolated place where he could ponder over the
consequences of his wrongdeeds.

ii. Punishment and deterrence, i.e., to inflict some pain and suffering, on an offender (i.e., some
punishment) for violating legal norms, so that criminals should be worse off than the poorest of
honest citizens; law-abiding individuals must be satisfied that law-breakers are penalized and
they are being protected against the threat of recidivism; and members of society may be deterred
from committing crimes.

iii. Protection, i.e., protecting community from criminals by marking out persons who violate
laws and stigmatising them so that others are warned against them.

iv. Reformation, i.e., to change offender’s values, motivations, attitudes and

perceptions and to re-socialise him and restore him to community.

G. CORRECTIONAL SERVICES FOR JAILINMATES

A person is not a born criminal. It is due to his association with bad company that often leads
him into trouble. A person is always capable of reforming provided he sees his release in the
society as are ward for it. If no such temptation is provided to accused persons, he will never try
to reform himself and always languish in jails. This often leads to over crowding of prisons and
serious health issues arise in the prisons. It is to be noted that the corrective methods are required
for the accused persons and not for under-trials. A mechanism has to be prepared for separating
under trials from convicts. Due to various corrective measures a convict can be reformed and be
released in the society because it is always better to reform a convict than to punish a person who
is already repenting for his wrongdoing. It is ultimately the fight against crime and not criminals.
Variouscorrective measures inIndia Page 15 of 17
 - Fundamental academic education designed to provide the intellectual tools needed in
study and training, and in everyday life.
- Vocational education, designed to give training for an occupation.

- Health education

- Cultural education

- Social education.

Service of educated in mates also provided a helpfull hand to the prison authorities as well as to
the society. After being released, they actively participate in the economic progress of the
society. They prove to be useful subjects of the society.

H. VICTIMOLOGICAL RESEARCH ININDIA.

Victimology is a relatively young branch of academic research. Its objective is to gain

knowledge about victims of crime and abuse of power. Victimology has from its inception
adopted an interdisciplinary approach to its subject matter. Contributions are being made by
experts from fields as diverse as academic lawyers, criminologists, clinical and social
psychologists, psychiatrists and political scientists. There are specialized international journals
for victimology; there is a world society of victimology and there are a number of regional and
national societies of victimology. The purpose of the study of victimology is to enhance our
understanding regarding victims and impact of crime on them. The aims of victimology relate to
the meaning and issues of victimology. Therefore, the study of victimization is the study of crime
giving importance to the role and responsibility of the victim and his offender.
To analyse the magnitude of the victims problems;

- To explain causes of victimization; and

- To develop a system of measures to reduce victimization.

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Today, the concept of victim includes any person who experiences the injury, loss, or hardship
due to any cause. Also the word victim is used rather indiscriminately; e.g. cancer victims,
accident victims, victims of injustice, crime victims and others. The thing that all these kinds of
usages have
in common is an image of someone who suffered injury and harm by forces beyond his or her
control. The rapidly developing study of criminal- victim relationship has been called
“victimology” and it is treated as an integral part of the general crime problem. The word
victimology was coined in 1947 by a French lawyer, Benjamin Mendelsohan. Victimology is
basically a study of crime from the point of view of the victim, of the persons suffering injury or
destruction by the action of another person or a group of persons.

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