Influence of support counselling on juvenile delinquents in India

Each child has the right to existence with respect.India observed as a developing country is successful in establishing some essential rights concerning children such as right to survival, right to protection, right to development, right to participation etc. all these provisions seek to enhance over all betterment of children in society. India is a developing nation, and still children are as yet a long way behind healthcare, education and other facilities. According to the latest data collected by the National health Survey, the whole India the rate of average malnourished children is 47% with an estimated 12- 16 million youngsters occupied with dangerous and hazardous occupations. And it is observed as, India has the biggest number of child laborers younger than 14 in the world. In India practically 19% of children are remaining, which is 33% of country’s populace, around 440 million is under 18years in which 40% of these youngsters are needing care, security, multiethnic and multi religion populace. The issues of socially minimized and monetarily in backward groups are vast with such gatherings the weakest segment is consistently the children. (PUSPA HEMBRAM (56-64))

 A child is known and observed as juvenile conflict with law when he/she commits a mistake which is illegal and which isn’t acknowledged by the general public. The first law or enactment on Juvenile was passed in1986, by the union parliament, according to the act a juvenile is considered as a male who has not attained the age of 16 and a female who as not attained the age of 18 years but in the year 2000 law of juvenile justice act removed the distinction found in the age limit of girls and boys. In the year 2015 the law amended as if a child of age 16-18 is found with a heinous offence such as rape, the child should be treated as adolescent. It is found as a child is brought into the world honest, yet due to some undesirable and unhealthy environment, carelessness of the essential necessities and wrong company and models, a child may transform into delinquent or get strife with law. It is recognized as these group requires individualized personal counselling that focus more on psychosocial aspect of the person, that help those children or juveniles in readapting more effectively in society. and also helps in the reintegration and rehabilitation process.

Counselling is observed as a significant Psychological Intervention, particularly the one which advances person’s entitlement to existence with dignity. Psychosocial intervention (PI) centres around the functioning of people, improving their individual and social abilities and offering help to the various roles embraced in their social and local area lives.it is observed as support counselling is a significant way to deal with remedial equity, at the same time the course is largely interpreted as a form of psychotherapy, on the other hand it is observed as counselling plays an important role—in deed, a much better role than other measures found in the juvenile justice system. The utilization of support counselling in the criminal justice system started in the post-World War II period in nations, for example, Britain and the United States (US). These interventions and measures included training programs, treatment, counselling, psychotherapy, and medication treatment. By the turn of twentieth century the possibility of diagnosis and treatment of an individual and social pathology acquired priority, within this era the term rehabilitation became a key element of the criminal justice system eventually the term rehabilitation re-imagined into a set of medical and behavioural interventions and strategies to eliminate the offender’s criminal dispositions. In which support counselling and guidance were observed as an effective intervention method in the field of criminal justice system.

it is seen as psycho-social mediation is a viable intervention strategy utilized in criminal justice system, as children’s’ in break with law or juvenile delinquents are not been completely mindful or aware of their current environment It may refers to his or her financial status, education, family circumstance and are a fundamental part of an individual’s wellbeing. Both direct and indirect psycho-social mediations and interventions tries to force results to reduce the effect of stressful occasions and situations, diminish distress and incapacity, limit indication and symptoms, improve the personal satisfaction and quality of life, diminish risks and all kinds of hazards, improve communication and coping skills and expertise and improve treatment adherence. psycho social intervention centres around the working of individual, improving their own and social abilities also, offering help to the various roles undertaken in their social and community lives and aims to improve social participation locally in the most dynamic, standardized and independent way. counselling is a significant psycho-social intervention one which advances people right and dignity, as it is seen as a process by which one can analyse, his or her thoughts, feelings actions and rehabilitation in a highly confidential and trustful manner. It seeks to uplift and empower children who are in conflict with law to assess where issues exist and figure out how to make changes important to accomplish better life change and fulfilment This eventually would lessen the crime recidivism rate. As Cherie L. Barnes once stated that “There is a correlation between intervention programs and reduced Juvenile recidivism” as exclusion of positive factors leads individuals to take part in acts that prompts delinquency and crime. In the earlier male overwhelmed medieval society punishments particularly the harsher ones are taken as impediment or deterrence of lawbreakers conduct, but in this modern mechanized world, counselling and child friendly behavior is taken as the worthy way for deterrence.

Emotional and the presence of prior undiscovered psychological maladjustment and imported pain as often frequently appear to be unrecognized and under-explored; they are less recognized by prisoners or detainees and therefore frequently go untreated, were counseling and psychosocial intervention have a huge task to carry out in addressing the complex necessities of offenders, ex-offenders and different groups inside the criminal justice system. criminal justice system assumes counseling as an essential part in crime prevention,through direct contact or face to face interaction with prisoners, counselor in correctional setting help forestall and alleviate recidivism and deter a delinquent from raising negligible crime to more genuine offenses Encouraging juvenile delinquents toward more constructive options and away from repetitive criminal conducts such as violation of law, substance misuse. Thus,it is observed as the ultimate objective directing in remedial framework is to diminish recidivism and also likewise intended to assist juvenile delinquents with comprehension and helps to overcome their inward and outer conflict through growing more exact social insight about themselves as well as other people and the patterns governing their interaction. subsequently effective support counseling therapy empower juvenile delinquent to improve their relations incorporating conflict with the general set of laws and furthermore decrease the probability of reoffending.counseling asa intervention technique looks to deliver to factors how the contention or conflict impact the activities and behavior of the offender and how one’s mind and triggering conflict collaborate to cause criminal conduct also, give greater need in understanding offenders insight in process of assessing evaluating and performing intercession. during the time spent on counseling from the initial stage itself the counselor see the offender not just as a criminal who ought to be corrected, rather looks to consider the offender as a person having emotions. also, looks to discover how the individual utilize their insight to comprehend and clarify the crime they committed. and furthermore, analyzes the psychological status of that individual and different regions where support and assistance are required. fundamental ideology of counselling in criminal justice system was protection of society tries to offer types of assistance individually and in groups and with adults and juveniles. Counselling In the filed of criminal justice system looks to help clients and offenders to re-imagined the implications of terms rehabilitation, treatment, cure and so on.  through support counseling some visible outcomes observed include,give child the freedom to express their willingness to take part in counselling sessions and when a child decides to engage in and proceed with the counseling sessions, it very well might be viewed as a positive result as for his/her walk towards insight and struggle towards reformation and restoration and also encourage an environment wherein the child oneself arrives at a state of understanding and acknowledge, that in the end causes the child  to reflect and share their views and rather it encourages a more profound understanding inside the child about the different parts of the current setting that brought the person contact with the law. Also has greater implication for the holistic reform and restoration of the Child in conflict with law through improving the cooperation and active participation of the family members and close relatives in the counselling process. Seeks to inspiration the child to look for different means for returning to the standard social settings for example, formal education, vocational training or joining the workforce and push the Board, to offers further assistance and help needed by the child during the time spent rehabilitation and recovery.

Child who has offended should be considered responsible for their actions, children have the ability to learn, embrace, adjust and change. The actual purpose behind support counselling in criminal justice system is to give these children and youngsters opportunities to change before it is too late to change furthermore, advised to channelize their energies in the positive way. Carrier guidance plays a important role in criminal justice and observed as an indispensable intervention method were through carrier guidance counselling, the juvenile justice system seeks to provide children to have better access over both social and economic opportunities thus, help these children to grow up more responsible citizens and help them to build a secure environment for their future and for their young ones.

According to the Delhi police, crimes and violations of law by children in the 16–18-year age is on the peak. this occurrence will be common in the years to drop by, especially in light of the fact that there is as far as almost no one has connecting the youth and the young people with ways that help them manage themselves and their situations better. some major interior factors that influence the prosperity of children that at last lead the child towards criminal behaviors is violence in the school’s in form of corporal punishment such as beating in front of other children, lack of individual attention, drop outs etc. as it is observed as most children in conflict with law are drop outs from schools, family conflict such as family members who are unable to understand the needs of children and those family who seems to have given upon the child, when the parent  of the child is dead and are not there to guide them, parent them or protect them, then such absence leads to internal and external simply leads to psychosocial conflict within the child.

But support counseling in the field of criminal justice system tries to give these youngsters freedoms to change before the circumstances deteriorate as it tents to prevent children who are observed to be in conflict with law not to get into such similar situation, through creating better insight within themselves.

It is likewise perceived as counseling had been essential for the law since 2000, the juvenile justice system managing kids in conflict with law to have been favorable to dynamic in the execution of the law in letter and soul. As part of that, juvenile justice board in Delhi allocated and assigned center for child right with the chance to counsel children in clash with the law. this maybe has been the first ever attempt of the board to guarantee appropriate counseling as a fundamental part of their function in dealing children in conflict with law.

some major interior factors that influence the prosperity of children that at last lead the child towards criminal behaviors is violence in the school’s in form of corporal punishment such as beating in front of other children, lack of individual attention, drop outs etc. as it is observed as most children in conflict with law are drop outs from schools, family conflict such as family members who are unable to understand the needs of children and those family who seems to have give upon the child, when the parent  of the child is dead and are not there to guide them, parent them or protect them, then such absence leads to internal and external simply leads to psychosocial conflict within the child.

It is observed a many of the children who come to conflict with law are school drop outs, who have financially impoverished or unstable background, but at the same time it is very evident that those children have some form of aspiration, fantasy and dreams that they see on television and movies, and to achieve those dreams and fantasy they tent to choose options that would bridge these gaps without spending much time. And it is observed as these children has less vision to have educated and they have completely lost the interest and they do not wish to get back into studies. The major challenge faced by the criminal justice system is to change the family reality of these children and also it is very difficult to make a better and stablerelationship withthese children as they have less faith and trust on the legal system and it is very difficult to gain that trust from those children and form their family.

All the above-mentioned factors highlight the importance and needed of support counseling for children who are observed to be in conflict with law. As the primary and the ultimate aim of counseling is to enhance better psychosocial adjustment with in them and seeks to approached these group with a sense of no-judgmental manner and provide service through care and love. in counseling a counsellor finds these children as an individual who as their own view about the society and manage to approached these children through building a better meaningful relationship and empathy and seeks to step into the shoes of the child and seeks to see the world and society thorough the eyes of that child who is in conflict with law. And provide service and interventions not in the form of advice rather through providing alternative to solve the problem and assist the child to chose the appropriate form them and make those children capable to make proper decision in the future when they confront similar situations and problems.

AUTHOR BIO

Abin Das is a member of LJRF Trivandrum chapter and he has been part of the Probation Fortnight Celebrations organized by District Probation Office, Pathanamthitta and District Legal Service authority Pathanamthitta in association with LJRF and Nervazhi. He has graduated from National College of arts and Science Trivandrum. And he has done his masters in social work specialized in medical and psychiatry from University of Kerala.

Editor

Praveena.C, a member of LJRF palakkad chapter, graduated from Govt Law College, Thrissur and has done Masters from GLC Thrissur specializing in Administrative law and is also the editor of lawexams.co.in and ljrfvoice.