The Importance Of Juvenile Delinquency

Children are considered to be the greatest national asset and reserve. Children should be given opportunity to be grown as enthusiastic citizens, physically fit, mentally alert and morally healthy because they are gifted with skills and activations needed by the society. All children must be provided equal opportunities for development during the period of their growth to reduce inequality and guarantee social justice, which in turn would serve as a helpful tool to restrain delinquency in juveniles. In a society child is expected to be obedient, respectful but due to various reasons he does not follow settled social and legal command.

Now days, juvenile delinquency has become most important subject matter of criminology. Delinquent behaviour

In other words juvenile is a child who is alleged to have violated some law which has been declared as an offence by the law of the land. Juvenile and minor are two different terms. The word Juvenile is used for young person who has committed some offence and minority is related to legal capacity or majority. The concept of the juvenile is different from state of state. In U.S.A., every State has different age limit with regard to juvenile because each state has the authority to determine the age of juveniles within its jurisdiction. But the majority of 52 States agree with maximum age set in the standards 1976 . Under federal government, anyone who is under 21 years of age committing delinquency can be adjudged a juvenile delinquent whereas in some other States it is under 18 years, under 17 years and under 10 years also. In most of the States there is no lower age limit set for adjudication child as a delinquent but in the Missisippy it is 10 and New York has fixed at 7

Different states have different age limits prescribed for juveniles like Bombay Children Act 1948 defined ‘Child’ as a boy who has not attained the age of sixteen years or girl who has not attained the age of eighteen years. The U.P. Children Act defined ‘Child’ as a person below sixteen years of age. The East Punjab Act, Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Children Act also approved the sixteen years age limit. Under A.P. Children Act 1920 “child” means a person less than 14 years. Saurashtra & West Bengal defines a 'child” a person who has not attained the age of eighteen years. Haryana Children Act has also maintained this difference in defining child as a boy who has not attained the age of sixteen years and a girl who has not attained age of eighteen