At a time when the country is debating whether the age limit of an accused juvenile should be reduced to 16 from 18 as crime graph shows minors being involved in majority of heinous offences, many psychiatrists in the city feel that the age of the juveniles should be further reduced to 14 years.
Dr (Brig) S Sudarsanan, Head Psychaitirst at BlK Super Speciality Hospital, said, “In other countries, there are deterrent laws for juveniles who commit crime. Our Government should also make stringent laws for juveniles so that it sets an example and thereby curb crime among young age group. Even the age of juvenile should be reduced to 14 years as every other day we read in the newspaper that 14-year-old commits crime.”
Dr Sudarsanan said, “Many a times, in the remote areas, juveniles who commit these serious crimes go unreported. It is because the December 17 gangrape incident happened in Delhi that people came to know about it. In my view, there should be immediate amendments in the laws.”
Dr Samir Parikh, Consultant and Director of Psychiatrist in Fortis Hospital, said, “When juveniles are aware of the nature of crime; then the punishment given to them should be maximum. Such type of a person cannot be left open in public. There should be proper monitoring and supervision of accused juvenile from time to time under experts and counsellors. Without proper reformation and transmission such criminals cannot be released.”
One of the convicted juvenile in the December 16 gangrape of 23-year-old paramedical student escaped the gallows as he was deemed as a minor then.
On Sunday, he was released after the completion of his three years of maximum punishment in the remand home that one receives under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.
...but a few favour underage rapists to be let off hook
The release of rapist juvenile in the December 16, 2012 gangrape case has triggered a nationwide debate on a number of issues, one of them being the quantum of punishment for juveniles involved in heinous crimes.
Despite being convicted in the case, the rapist — who is understood to be the most brutal of the six men who gangraped Nirbhaya and inflicted life threatening injuries on her that led to her death 13 days after the attack in Singapore — has escaped severe punishment as his age during the time of the crime was 17 years and six months.
The rapist could not be tried as a major as he had enjoyed protection under the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act. At that time, demands were made for age determination (ossification) test to ascertain whether he was really a juvenile or not, but the JJ Board did not oblige as his school certificate was taken as the final proof.
Priyanka Sharma spoke to psychiatrist Ramon lamba. When asked, can s/he (juvenile) be tried as a major or changes should be made in the JJ Act to lower the maximum age of juvenile that is 18 yearsIJ
“Even before we come to debating about the age of a juvenile, it is important to understand the significance of human brain development. According to research, a human brain is fully developed by the age of 25, and the human brain is the organ which is responsible for all reasoning, logic, thinking and reaction. The chemicals excreted in the human brain , which cause stability, are fluctuating in a child’s brain and hence they are more inclined to be influenced by external situations and people and their ability to use their own reasoning and logic is very very weak”, she said.
“Before we even get into making a choice, about reducing the age of juvenile we must keep in mind a few aspects about human behaviour. It is important to keep in mind that we are all human beings and not robots. There are two major aspects that impact human behaviour: 1) Genetically we are all born a certain way, and this aspect is defined in the mothers womb based on the parents genetic behaviour patterns. 2) Our environmental conditions, especially between the age of 1 and 14 years, build up our foundation,” she said.
“So our genetic design, along with our environmental conditioning, defines our psycological make up.
“Children committing crimes at early age as 16 or 18, definitely have been through similar environmental conditioning, or have been victims to a lot of trauma and abuse in childhood, and they become more aggressive in their approach. Punishing them is a very harsh option. It’s important to understand various aspects under which the child has committed a crime and help them learn to do things in a different way.
“There has to be a more intelligent approach, towards justice for children committing any crime. This doesn’t mean law does not take any measures, but with the existing laws and argument about reducing age, we are only destroying all possibility of self development in children,” she said.
The approach can be very assertive and yet mild, and educative, rather than punishing them for anti-social behaviour and definitely with a positive and tolerant approach, said lamba, adding, “We can reverse the behaviour patterns to more mild ways of being. It’s about understanding the root cause and tearing it from there and the age limit should not be changed.”