Crimes by juveniles saw slight increase in 2014; repeat offences go down

NEW DELHI: While there has been a marginal increase in the number of juveniles in conflict with the law, the number of repeat offenders has declined.

According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the number of juveniles in conflict with the law increased from 31,725 in 2013 to 33,526 in 2014. However, the number of juveniles apprehended for recidivism (repeat offence) came down from 9.5% in 2013 to 5.4% in 2014.

The percentage of juvenile crimes to total cognizable crimes also came down a shade from 1.2% in 2013 to 1.18% in 2014. Incidence of total crime increased from 26.47 lakh in 2013 to 28.51 lakh in 2014.

This comes at a time when amendments to the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act are under consideration of Rajya Sabha. The bill, among other things, allows for juveniles between 16-18 years of age in conflict with the law to be treated as adults on the discretion of the Juvenile Justice Board.

"Even the data on recidivism does not warrant any regressive change in the JJ law as proposed by the WCD ministry," Bharti Ali of Haq: Centre for Child Rights said.



The number of juvenile delinquents from economically weak backgrounds also saw an increase as did the number of illiterate or poorly educated delinquents. According to NCRB data, while 52.9% juveniles apprehended in 2012 belonged to families with annual income of less than Rs 25,000, the number went up to 55.6% in 2014. About 52% of juveniles apprehended in 2012 were either illiterate or educated only up to primary level. This figure went up to 53% in 2014.

Ali also pointed out that more IPC crimes were committed by juveniles in 2012-2013 (13.56%) as compared to 2013-2014 (5.65%).