
HYDERABAD: Underlining the importance of a healthy family and its effect on a child, a new study done on juvenile delinquents in Hyderabad found that majority of their parents did not spend time with their children. Even if they did, a majority of the fathers were found to be alcoholics. Coupled with that, movies and smartphones also played a major role in influencing the juveniles’ decisions.
The study titled “A cross-sectional study on the factors influencing juvenile delinquency in the government juvenile home, Hyderabad, Telangana” surveyed 132 juvenile delinquents from the city and found that parents of 70 per cent of them did not spend time with their children, while 68 per cent of the fathers were alcoholics. The need to assess juvenile delinquency was talked about after the brutal rape of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi in 2012.
The gang that had committed the gruesome crime had a person who was not even an adult at the time.
Latest research has turned on its head the notion that one is ‘born a criminal’ by showing that juvenile delinquency is a social problem“Each juvenile offense is the outcome of a number of causes. A rich family gives its children a lot of money for expenses and that influences them into involving themselves in criminal activities indirectly.
“In many poor families, the family members quarrel due to their poverty, among other reasons. This has a negative impact on the children’s minds. As a result, many of spend most of their time with their friends outdoors just to stay away from the crises at home. This gradually influences them into participating in criminal activities,” the researchers stated.
Indicating other major factors that influenced juvenile delinquents were movies — 74.6 per cent of respondents said they were influenced by them. Many them also responded in the affirmative to having addictions — almost 93.8 per cent of them said they had been influenced by peers in this regard. At least 70 per cent of the respondents said smartphones too played a part in their delinquency.
“A child usage of phones and the internet needs to monitored continuously. The child is, for any reason of truancy, may be exposed to an environment that can favour delinquent behaviour. “The importance of parental affection, close supervision of peer groups and the importance of the family in moulding a child cannot be overstated,” the study said.
The usual suspects
Among the 200 juvenile delinquents surveyed in the study, usage of smartphones (87.5 per cent) and the influence of movies (74.6 per cent) were found to be reasons behind delinquent behaviour. Peer influence (93.8 per cent) too was found to be a major reason when it came to addiction of alcohol, whitener fluid, and smoking