CHENNAI : Nearly half of the juveniles in conflict with law had themselves been victims of abuse before they took up criminal acts, said M P Nirmala, Chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Commission for Protection of Child Rights, based on a study conducted by her in juvenile observation homes and borstal schools.
M P Nirmala, a retired IAS officer, conducted a research on how effective the correctional programmes are, for the juveniles presented by the system. “The findings turned out to be rather depressing,” she said.
Pointing out the statistics on the research conducted around government observatory homes and borstal schools in Vellore, Chennai and Salem, she said 42.6 per cent of the juveniles who committed crimes, were abused when they were young.
“If the government does not take seriously the correctional programmes for the children in conflict with law, the society might have to face a serious time in the near future,” she said, during her presentation of the study on Thursday in the University of Madras.“There is no proper psychological guidance for them to direct their hurt caused by the abuse they experienced when they were young,” Nirmala said.
79.5 per cent of the juveniles learned to commit crime through their peers whom they join because of lack of parental care.She said the homes to which they are sent, instead of changing their lives for the better, end up making them worse. The prison officials treat them as villians and the probation officers see them as a burden with no hope.59.8 per cent of the inmates complained of harsh and brutal treatment by the police during their term. Most of these boys stay in the prison because their financial background does not allow them to get them bail, she noted.