Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'The right way to deal with minor criminals' that was published in Newsband

The right way to deal with minor criminals

Society is judged by the way in which it treats its children. Current law exempts minor criminals from adult punishment.

What is the appropriate adult response to childhood crime? There is incontrovertible scientific evidence about the developmental immaturity of children's brains as they grow, compounded by the confusion of bodily changes and surging hormones, and adolescent struggles to reconcile adult dependence with aspirations of autonomy. Which among us have not traversed this journey of coming of age — of heartbreak, bewilderment, anger and hope?

Many of us have been steadied by the caring hand of a parent, teacher, elder sibling or friend. But what about those children who — in these tortuous growing years — have no one they can reach out to? Among the children and youth, it was found that most escape violent and abusive alcoholic fathers, incest and family neglect. On the streets, they form alternate peer families or 'gangs' of other street children, and frequently survive using drugs, sex and petty crime. Many graduate from lost childhoods to careers of adult crime.

Should we treat juvenile offenders as we do adult criminals? In the 1990s, the surge of teenage crime in the United States led many to describe them as 'street predators', advocating 'adult punishment for adult crime', much in the same tenor as resonates across India today. According to a judge, juvenile offenders should be treated 'as a wise and merciful father handles his own child'.

Homeless children resort to stealing, or lying, or indulging in violence. How should we as adult treat such kids? The only talisman to guide us is: 'treat the child as you would treat your own child'. When your own children lose their way, deceive, attack, steal — you correct them, punish them, guide them, but you never stop taking care of them, and never stop believing in them. Why should it be different for other growing children who lack responsible adult protection in their own families?

Some say that reduced punishment for children would result in an explosion of juvenile crime. That’s not true. In a country in which nearly half the 1.2 billion people are children, our annual juvenile crime figure of around 30,000 is minuscule, almost negligible. We are not at risk from our children: it is children who have to be protected from adults.

To deter offences by children, the way is not to send them to adult jails or the gallows. Juvenile crime is best prevented by reaching out on time to children deprived of adult protection, with hundreds of open and caring residential schools for these children, ensuring food, education and protection. Harsher punishments for juvenile offenders will only brutalize them more. The youth who come from violent street childhoods of crime are found to respond positively to love and to caring adult guidance of right and wrong, and evolve into responsible and often remarkably gentle young people.

Children need love, trust and guidance, not incarceration and condemnation, to steer them to a path of responsible adulthood.