Controlling crimes among youth

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We are not born violent. We may be born with difficult temperaments but we are not born violent. We depend on our environment for such manifestation. So who is responsible for all the crimes around us? Are we as a society responsible for creating an environment that is breeding violence? Who is responsible for controlling crimes in youth? Is legislation going to decrease crime in youth? Crimes in youth come under the preview of juvenile delinquency.

Juvenile delinquency refers to behaviors of minors that violate criminal law because they cannot recognise the difference between right and wrong and therefore cannot be held fully responsible for their criminal acts before the age of maturity. Youth crimes are rooted in a complex matrix of unique trajectories that involve physiological changes and psychosocial demands. It encompasses a broad range of behaviours from socially unacceptable behaviour (bunking school), to status offenses (alcohol consumption) and criminal acts (rape and murder).

According to the legal definition, juvenile delinquency is seen as behavior of an individual who may not have yet reached the age of adulthood as specified in the relevant national or state legislation but who violates the criminal law. The definition encompasses a range of behaviours which need not be illegal for adults or are unlikely to come to police attention if these behaviours are practiced by adults.

While dealing with juveniles, a distinction is being made between index offense and status offense. Index offenses are offenses such as robbery, rape and homicide which are considered criminal acts when committed by youth or adults. The status offenses are behaviours that are considered socially unacceptable (running away, drinking, smoking) under a specific age. These status offenses classified as juvenile offences are seen as less serious acts.

Crimes committed by youth are dealt with by most nations under special laws known as juvenile justice laws. When considering the way in which criminal justice system treats young people, most countries make two important distinctions based on age. The first is age of criminal responsibility. The minimum age of criminal responsibility is the age below which a person is completely immune from any criminal liability due to lack of maturity and judgment to understand the consequences of one’s actions. The individual cannot be held criminally liable for their acts. This age varies considerably from country to country.

Even if a young offender has reached the age of criminal responsibility they are likely to be treated differently from adults as long as they are still considered to be a minor. The second important age then relates to the point at which juvenile are treated in the same way as an adult by the criminal justice system. This age again varies across nations but is typically set to be at 16 or 18 years. In India, the specified minimum age is 18 years.

There are specific reasons why this age specification cannot be disregarded. With the development of sophisticated brain imaging techniques, neuropsychologists are able to be more precise as to why adolescents engage in risk taking behaviors. There are certain changes in the brain circuitry that are responsible for their risk taking behavior.

Brain imaging indicates that reward systems are hyperactive during adolescence resulting in increased likelihood of reward seeking and risk taking behaviour. The region of the brain (pre frontal cortex) which is implicated in impulse control, planning and decision making is not fully developed until the early 20.

Thus adolescence is an age, where rewards of risk-taking become very attractive but the capacity to control and regulate behaviour has still not developed. Adolescents fail to understand the risks associated with certain behaviours, such as drinking and driving, unprotected sex and what makes it even more potent is that they underestimate the likelihood of the harmful outcomes that may happen to them.

Evidence from other research also suggests the importance of early childhood factors that could contribute to the development of unstable personality and increases the likelihood of risk taking behaviour. Factors include having an emotionally unstable parent, parental rejection, lack of love during childhood and inconsistent discipline. Young children especially in the first five years of life, who do not have the opportunity to emotionally bond with their parents, show the greatest risk during their transition between childhood and adulthood.

The years of adolescence are thus crucial. An adolescent need structure and discipline. Parent and adult involvement in an adolescent’s life is as crucial as never before. It is a delicate balance between defining boundaries and allowing freedom. The question we often do not ask is why are there so many youth in our villages as drop outs, loitering about in hangouts with nobody questioning their whereabouts. One of the contributing factors to juvenile delinquency is the experience of neglect within the family environment. Thus from a preventive point of view, the greatest hope for discouraging delinquency lies in efforts made to improve the quality and harmony of the family system. Working with family members to strengthen family life through assisting individuals and family units and improve the community circumstances essential to wholesome family living is the need of the hour to address increase in youth crimes; not decrease in juvenile age for justice.

Dr Aldina Braganza e Gomes is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and associate professor, HOD, Dept of Psychology Carmel College