Caught in the Middle: Navigating Rehabilitative and Punitive Approaches in India's Youth Justice Policy

Introduction

The Indian youth legal system draws from international child rights conventions that prioritize the rehabilitation and reintegration of the justice-involved youth. However, the moral panic around youth committing heinous offenses has led to a punitive outlook towards those in the age group 16-18 years who stand accused of committing heinous offenses. Scholars have written extensively about the drawbacks of integrating these approaches. However, little is known about how these essentially competing philosophies operate together. This study interrogates how social workers negotiate punitive and rehabilitative treatment approaches — do they extend the protective provisions intended for youth under 16 to those in the 16-18 age group, or do they impose the punitive measures designed for older youth onto those younger than 16? In doing so, this study asks: where, in practice, do social workers negotiate the boundary between childhood and culpability?

Methods

Through qualitative interviews this study explores the paradoxes of treatment that emerge as social workers interact with the youth offenders in a Northern state in India. 11 social workers responsible for the adjudication of cases pertaining to the youth offenders were interviewed. Drawing from a semi-structured interview guide, participants discuss their perspective on the treatment of youth-offenders based on the youth’s demographic characteristics and the nature of offense. The interviews were recoded and transcribed in Hindi first and then translated to English. The Hindi transcripts were used for member checking. This study used an inductive coding approach and thematic analysis as the analytic strategy.

Results

The findings from this study suggest that participants adhere to the treatment approach which draws from the developmental theories. They believe that children should be given a second chance by linking them to resources necessary for their rehabilitation and reintegration. At the same time, participants expressed that punishment of youth offenders through institutionalization in correctional facilities is important for their rehabilitation as it creates deterrence against reoffending. Factors such as the age of the youth, the nature of the offense, and consideration for the rights of the victims of the offenses were some factors that warranted the punishment of youth offenders.

Conclusion

This study highlights that under the current youth justice policy in India, young people are viewed as individuals deserving protection because of their special status as children. At the same time, they are also seen as individuals who must forgo these protections as a consequence of their actions. Despite the presence of both rehabilitative and punitive provisions in the Indian youth justice policies, the reliance is more on the punitive provisions. As a result, justice-involved youth are subjected to longer periods of institutionalization at the pre-trial stage. The punitive provisions introduced for youth in the age group 16-18 years impacts youth beyond this age group.