juvenile justice law

The recently passed juvenile justice law should be welcomed. However it is a matter of serious concern that the government perhaps needs some dramatic event or public outrage to make a law. This practice needs to be changed. Few of the critics of the law have opined that this would not bring about changes in the society and would be detrimental to the juveniles. The point is that though the society needs to raise its ethical standards but when conscience fails to serve as the source of ethical guidance , it is the law which would serve the purpose. Most of the data suggest that the rise in juvenile crimes in India is approximately 2-3 per cent however, even this rise seems to be alarming considering the total number of crimes. Societies need both reformative and retributive laws to deal with the issues and concerns of the criminal justice system. So far as reformation is concerned the onus lies primarily on us to guide the growing children especially the juveniles to make them sensitive to the society. The rise in juvenile crimes may be attributed to the breakdown of the system of social control, and certainly their exposure to Internet, the consumerist culture and may more factors that contribute to development and growth. Though we can not and should not stop the growth yet at the family level itself we need to be sensitised and make the juveniles also understand the importance of social institutions and cultural traditions. They should be made able to understand that modernity does not come just by becoming absolutely free rather modernity and traditions go hand in hand