Family and Children

More and more Indian families are facing problems with their children in recent times, with the issue of juvenile delinquency becoming a major issue. For many young people today, traditional patterns guiding relationships and transitions between family, school, and work are being challenged. Social relations that ensure a smooth process of socialization are collapsing; lifestyle trajectories are becoming more varied and less predictable. Young people who are at risk of becoming delinquent often live in difficult circumstances. Children who, for various reasons—including parental alcoholism, poverty, breakdown of the family, overcrowding, abusive conditions in the home, the growing HIV/AIDS scourge, or the death of parents during armed conflicts—are orphans or unaccompanied and are without the means of subsistence, housing, and other basic necessities are at greatest risk of falling into juvenile delinquency. With juvenile delinquency ringing alarm bells, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has said that children are often driven to delinquent behaviour due to economic disparity, domestic violence, and poverty. According to him, there is a direct correlation between deprivation of economic resources and juvenile delinquency, and only a holistic approach focused on aspects such as deprivation and poverty can help address this, as children can become more susceptible to negative influences with no necessary guidance. As he has rightly pointed out, children are often driven towards delinquent behaviour by complex societal challenges like economic disparities and social inequalities. Family breakdowns, on the other hand, resulting from issues like domestic violence or poverty can leave children without the necessary guidance, making them more susceptible to negative influences. What can also be said is that a sizable section of parents have not been able to learn the art of parenting under changing socio-economic changes, which too is pushing young people into difficult and dangerous situations. Spending quality time with children, encouraging children to interact with other people, including neighbours and relatives, and helping them develop a liking for nature and the environment are also important activities that can help tackle juvenile delinquency. Additionally, teaching young people to spend less time on the mobile phone, internet, and social media and encouraging them to develop a habit of reading books are also some ways of preventing delinquency among young people. Peer influence too has to be monitored closely, while domestic violence has to be avoided in order to ensure that children do not develop delinquent tendencies.