Most child offenders lived with parents, finds study

A study by Bosco (Bangalore Oniyavara Seva Coota) on children in conflict with law has revealed that 94 per cent of the offences in the City have been committed by children in the age group of 15-17 years.

A book on the findings of the study ‘Contemporary Perspective of Children in Conflict With Law’ was released at the Police Commissioner’s office here on Thursday.

The study was conducted based on 170 cases registered against juveniles in West and South divisions in the City. Explaining some of the major findings of the study, Father George P S, executive director of Bosco, said that intensive and concentrated preventive efforts for adolescents can be taken up, keeping in view the results of the study.

Out of the cases considered for the study, 63 per cent pertain to theft.
“A majority of the children in conflict with law were found to be living with their parents, while only 11 per cent of them belong to single parent category and three per cent were orphans. The other significant finding is that children in 80 per cent of the cases were found to have studied up to 7th standard and 53.5 per cent were school dropouts. Peer influence (52.4 per cent) and adult influence (10 per cent) were found to be major factors leading to offence,” George said.

Healthier family and living environments, healthy peer activities and capacity building of parents and teachers can prevent children from taking to crime, he said.

“The study takes a person to the ground realities in the world of children and helps in forming proper perspectives that can positively change the destiny of children who come into conflict with law. The study is an insightful resource for those who are directly or indirectly dealing with such children,” he said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) P Harishekaran - who released the book - called for a criminal rehabilitation centre in the city. “A disturbing trend of children taking to crime is on the rise and it might increase in the coming days. We don’t have an action plan to tackle this growing problem. In a recent case in Yeshwantpur, I had to interfere after police refused to register an FIR when an NGO rescued a few children from an unsafe working condition.

It is high time that different stakeholders co-ordinate and establish rehabilitation centres. The City police are ready to shoulder the responsibility, provided the staff and funds are allocated for creating rehabilitation centres,” he said.

H R Umesh Aradhya, chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, and H J Chandrashekhar, Director of Integrated Child Protection Scheme, were present during the book launch.
DH News Service