Growing negligence by, and indifference of, parents towards children could be the cause behind increasing cruelty in juveniles as is evident from the growing number of offences committed by them.
Experts say the general quality of society is equally to blame for this.
They site reasons as absence of moral and social values in society, effect of private tuitions based education, the extent of “satellite TV culture” and inadequate recreation facilities for the growth of a healthy mind on the growing rate of juvenile crime.
Statistics made available from a Save the Children, UK study show a gradual increase in the number of children confined in jails or child development centres in the first four months of the current year, suggesting an increase in offences committed by them.
These figures are of actual offenders since police are not arresting anyone on suspicion or until allegations against them are found to be true in primary investigations.
The number of children confined in 57 jails and three child development centres (Kishore Unnayan Kendro or KUKs) in January was 558 (313 in jails, 245 in development centres), increasing to 569 in February (319 in jails, 250 in development centres), 650 in March (380 in jails, 650 in development centres) and 662 in April (380 in jails, 282 in development centres).
However no other statistics are available to police in this regard as no records are kept separately of juvenile offenders.
Most of the young offenders are found to hail from extremely poor families, raised in streets or slums without proper care or guidance from parents. Offenders also include some from the middle and upper classes.
Prof. Abdul Hakim Sarkar of the Institute of Social Welfare of Dhaka University, who has worked on juveniles in conflict with the law, blames poverty and lack of parental guidance for the rise in delinquents.
Psychologists are also concerned about the growing cruelty among juveniles as is very evident from recent incidents. Such children do not show any repentance after committing serious offences. Sometimes they even kill the victim to hide evidence of their crime.
Investigations into five murders in they capital city by juveniles, committed over six months from April last year, show the cruel nature of such offenders. The youngsters killed their victims over trivial matters like altercation during games, or snatching cell phones or disagreements over sharing of booty after selling stolen goods.
“Cases filed against children for muggings, snatchings and thefts marked a slight increase recently,” says Advocate Mahbubur Rahman, Legal Aid Officer of Aparjeyo-Bangladesh, a child rights NGO.
Mahbub, who distributes juvenile cases among a panel of lawyers of the NGO to provide legal support to children in conflict with the law, says recent offenders are mostly from very poor families. They possibly turn to a criminal life as their parents fail to feed them, he says.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Naim Ahmed informs that in the recent city murders committed by juveniles, the young killers executed their crimes almost like professional criminals though it was a first time offence for most of them.
They even had the fore thought or planning to destroy evidences, drowning a victim’s body and burning the faces of others so that the bodies cannot be identified easily.
Naim says the reason behind the killings by children and the way they were executed has become a matter of grave concern.
He calls for urgent research on the issue by social scientists and child psychologists to identify the reasons behind such behaviour and methods to mitigate them.
Dr Mehtab Khanam, professor of psychology department of Dhaka University, says lack of tolerance in the society where parents behave harshly with their young children can lead to cruelty in children.
“There is even a case of a 12-year old killing a girl after rape,” Prof Khanam points out from case studies by Save the Children, UK.
Prof. Abdul Hakim claims that the number of juvenile crimes in the country has been on the rise since the year 2000.
Referring to one of his own studies conducted during the eighties, he says 90 per cent of the juveniles coming to the three child development centres in the city, then known as juvenile correction centres, were referred by their parents.
But now, the police send more than 90 per cent of children in these centres.
The superintendent of the child development centre at Tongi confirms this.
According to the book ‘Juvenile Delinquency’, authored by a superintendent of police BL Das, separate records of juvenile delinquency is not maintained in the country because of various reasons.
“The small number of cases recorded with police are alarming and the real picture is much more frightening,” the book claims.
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