Juvenile delinquency is caused by both social and personal factors. Social factors include broken homes, poverty, delinquency areas, bad companions/gangs, beggary, school dissatisfaction, and exposure to films/pornography. Personal factors include mental deficiency and emotional disturbances like inferiority complexes. Delinquency is defined as behavior that is socially unacceptable and violates laws. It is a complex issue with many contributing causes, and both social and legal perspectives are used to interpret it. Treatment of juvenile offenders focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment.

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1. Explain the meaning of delinquency and define it. Discuss the causation
of Juvenile Delinquency.
Prescribing different treatment for juvenile offenders is an offshoot of the new penology,
which came to be applied with the realization the Courts. A child is absolutely born innocent
but certain social and environmental factors in a negative aspect diverge their minds towards
criminal tendencies, whose removal might mould them into a person of stature and
excellence. Recently, juvenile delinquency has become an important aspect of criminology.
Juveniles have got serious forms of delinquent behaviour which may hamper the stability and
social command of our society. The deviant behaviour of the juveniles has created social
disorder and destruction of moral values which is creating an alarming position in organized
society. Juvenile Delinquency has become a cause of social concern all over the world.
However, the causation of delinquency, nature and extent of juvenile delinquency, genesis of
delinquency, forms of delinquency and patterns of delinquency vary from time to time, place
to place and well with in a community, society, region and national society etc.
 Delinquency:
The word “delinquency” has its origin from the Latin word “delinquere” which meaning de
i.e. “away and linquere” i.e. “to leave thus, mean by to leave or to abandon”. Initially, the
word was having primarily meaning and applied to those parents who have abandoned and
neglected their children. Now days, it is applicable on all those children who are involved in
illegal and harmful activities.
Delinquency is unwelcomed action, omission or moral behaviour of a juvenile which is
socially not permitted in any society. Generally it means that if the child fails to meet certain
social obligations anticipated from them by the people, then he is considered to be delinquent.
The juvenile delinquent is behavioural disorder which is generally defined as “a child trying
or pretending to act like a grown up or adult”.
Generally there is a haze of ambiguity and confusion surrounding delinquency and there is no
single general acceptable definition for it. The first ever legislation on juvenile delinquency,
passed by the State of Illinois in l899 which specifies various specific kinds of delinquency in
addition to the offences covered by the criminal laws.
According to W.H. Sheldon, delinquency is “behaviour disappointing beyond reasonable
expectation”. Cyril Bur says that “delinquency occurs in a child when his antisocial
tendencies appear so grave that he becomes or ought to become the subject of official action”.
It is believed that delinquency is considered in a child only when his behaviour is harmful for
others and is occurring repetitively.
Edwin Powers and Helen Witmer found in their study that “in order to define the real
delinquents it was necessary to take into consideration three concepts or criteria namely, the
seriousness of the behaviour, its frequency and the attitude of the offender toward a lawfully
constituted society”. In view of that, the classification of the delinquents is done into five
major sects i.e most, ordinary, occasional, seldom and least delinquent. Therefore the term

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delinquency does not have a predetermined meaning. On the other hand, the sociological and
the legal are generally two accepted approaches for the interpretation of the term.
The sociological approach gives a liberal interpretation to the term delinquency. It means
deviation from the normal behaviour. Delinquency described on a sociological aspect is a
child whose behaviour is not as per statue and is alarming to his parents, neighbours and
teachers and to those who are responsible for his care, protection and education.
The universal meaning of the word “Delinquency‟ is something not correct which is against
the social norms of a society. Juvenile Delinquency is a legal term that was first defined in
1889, when Illinois passed the first law on Juvenile Delinquency: since then every state has
passed the delinquency laws. In United State of America, the law on Juvenile Delinquency
declared variety of acts which are described as below.
• Immoral or offensive conduct
• Knowingly associating with immoral persons
• Visiting houses of bad reputation
• Visiting liquor shops
• Roaming in street in night
• Engaging in illegal and unlawful business
• Violation of any law of state
• Immoral conduct in school
• Habitually wandering on roads
• Driving without license.
• Habitually bunking from schools.
• Incorrigible
• Habitually using immoral language in Public Place.
• Running away from home without permission
• Smoking at public places
• Begging or receiving alms
India has agreed to the recommendations made by the U.N. Congress. The Children Act,
1960 defines a delinquent child as “a child who has been found to have committed an
offence”. A child under the Act means “a boy under the age of 16 years and a girl less than
18 years‟‟. However separate arrangements have been made for the utmost care and
protection of the neglected and economically deprived children who if not treated and cared

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timely may turn into delinquency. These children deal by the Child Welfare Boards. The
Government of India has enhanced the age of a juvenile, “in Juvenile Justice (Care and
Protection) Act, 2000, to 18 years for both boy and the girl in fulfilment of its commitment to
the United Nations declarations.
 Causes of Juvenile Delinquency:
There are considerable variations in the socio- cultural, economic and psychological bases of
causation of juvenile delinquency across the societies in the world. The economic growth
trends as well as levels and the changing pattern of human behaviour are quite observable.
The laws governing deviant behaviour among children as well as adults have also undergone
a drastic change. The handling of misbehaving individuals has got developed into a highly
civilized one and lot of changes to the existing laws have also been affected in this
background. In fact the new conceptualization of "Juvenile in conflict with law" enacted
recently in Indian legal system in place of the old concept of "juvenile delinquent" has been
one such illustration for the sophistication of labelling misbehaving children which has been
borrowed from the west.
Juvenile delinquency is a common problem every where. How societies conceptualize it is
the thing which matters most for the fact that delinquent behaviour is a defined behaviour.
Only when a child is defined delinquent he is delinquent, otherwise not.
There is no single cause or simple explanation provided for the development of delinquent
behaviour. The factors of causation of juvenile delinquency could be broadly classified under
two major head as (a) Social factors, and (b) Personal factors.
[A] Social Factors:
The social factors are generally are those which are present in the environment surrounding
the juvenile which leads him to commit delinquent acts.
(i) Broken Homes: The home may be broken up by death of one or both of the parents or by
prolonged illness or insanity, desertion or divorce. Interaction in home is a very important
means for socializing the child. The mother plays vital role in this regard. If she divorces her
husband or deserts him or dies, the growth of the child will be affected. Such a child loses not
only mother's love but also parental control and becomes an easy victim to the outside anti-
societal influence. It cannot, however, be said that broken home invariably leads to
delinquent behaviour on the part of children.
(ii) Poverty: A very large proportion of delinquent children come from poor homes. They
commit their offences as member of gangs. Poverty compels sometimes both of the parents to
be outside the home for a very long period to earn their daily bread. The children will be
uncared for. Such children may consciously or unconsciously join hands with gangsters and
become delinquents. This mostly happens in slum areas and areas in which mostly working
class people live.

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(iii) Delinquency Areas: It is said that some areas are highly vulnerable to delinquent trends.
The delinquents mostly come from the areas of poor housing, overcrowding and the areas in
which cinema houses, hotels, night clubs, liquor shops are found in a large number. However,
it is to be noted here that not all the children living in the so called defined delinquent areas
are delinquents.
(iv) Companions and Gangs: As the child grows older he or she goes into the neighbourhood
and becomes a member of the playgroup or peer group. If by chance he joins the group or the
gang that fosters delinquent attitudes he is also likely to become a delinquent. In fact much
delinquency spring up from the prevalent attitudes in the groups within which the youth has
immediate contacts. That is why it is maintained that "delinquency is a product of community
forces". In cities, particularly in slum areas, very peculiar social groups called 'gangs' are
found. In the absence of playground facilities, the children will start playing in street and
finally organize themselves into gangs. These gangs are found to be associated with crime in
all its aspects like delinquency, rioting, corrupt politics, and so on. Children coming from
poor families and broken families easily become the victims of gangs. Due to bad
companionship also offences are committed by the adolescents.
(v) Beggary: Beggary is often the cause of juvenile delinquency. Child beggars mostly come
from either very poor families or broken homes. These children are betrayed of the needed
love and affection of the parents. They crave for the satisfaction of their inner impulses,
desires and ambitions. They choose to become beggars for the same. As beggars they get
annoyed to see others enjoying life. Some of them may even become rebels. They realize that
only through deviant practices, they can satisfy their desires and meet their needs. They thus
become delinquents.
(vi) School Dissatisfaction: Some get dissatisfied with school life. Parental irresponsibility,
unmanageable students- teacher ratio, lack of entertainment and sports facilities in schools,
indifference of the teachers may all contribute to this. Such dissatisfied students become
regular absentees in schools and start wandering in streets. They may even form gangs of
their own and become gamblers, eve-teasers, pick-pocketers, drunkards, smokers and drug
addicts.
(vii) Film and Pornographic literature: This has also added to the magnitude of delinquency.
Cinema, television and obscene literature may often provoke sexual and other impulses in 6
adolescents. Hence they may start their 'adventure' in satisfying them and in the process of
which they commit crimes.
(viii) Deep-seated inner desires: Desires coupled with outside pressures, compulsions and
temptations also contribute to juvenile delinquency. For example, on hearing the interesting
narration of the illicit sex experience or such other criminal experience from one's gang mate,
one may tempted to follow the same.
[B] Personal Factors:

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Personal factors are those which are present in the juvenile himself be it in his mind or in his
emotions that leads him to commit delinquent acts.
(i) Mental deficiency: It has been observed that good number of delinquents are mentally
deficient have revealed that there is larger proportions of mentally defective in the juvenile
delinquent group than among the normal children. The average intelligence of the juvenile
delinquents is certainly lower than the average intelligence of the normal group of children of
the same age. Such children are often used by the more intelligent children of the gang or the
adults for their criminal purpose.
(ii) Emotional disturbance: Emotional problems of inferiority, jealous and being thwarted are
very common among the delinquent children. From the psychological point of view
"Delinquency is a rebellion and an expression of aggression which is aimed at destroying
breaking down or changing the environment". This rebellion is mostly against the social
conditions which deny the individual his basic rights and the satisfaction of his fundamental
needs. He wants to get immediate pleasure and immediate satisfaction for his needs. So he
becomes a victim to his own impulses. He is neither able to control his impulses nor able to
imagine to think the consequence of his action. It is also said that delinquent breakdown is an
escape from emotional situation for some particular individuals with peculiar individual and
family background. Some emotionally maladjusted children become delinquents to get the
attention of their parents or as a protest against their treatment.
Thus it may be said that juvenile delinquency is the result of both social or environmental and
personal or individual factors of causation of it. The above mentioned factors of causation of
delinquency have become common aspects in crime committed by the children in India.