A SOCIO-LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE DEATH PENALTY FOR JUVENILES

Abstract

The Indian penal code was developed in 1860 with inspiration from British India. Any lack of rehabilitation was successfully made up for by the “Children's Act” that followed and the Juvenile Acts that followed, up until the “Apprentice Act of 1950,” which appeared to acknowledge the fragile position of youngsters in a society that was becoming more separated. The law concerning juvenile offences has been effective up to the extent of any lack of rehabilitation, nonetheless. This law was later replaced by the Reformatory Schools Act, 1897i , which states that children up to the age of 15 may be transferred to a reformatory cell. The “Juvenile Justice Act of 2002ii” was the more comprehensive arena of counteraction of the broader area of combating misbehavior by bringing children in need of protection and care into its purview and establishing plans for handling children who are determined to have committed an offence. This particular paper examines the theory and application of the laws pertaining to young people who have committed crimes and only makes context-specific allusions to the arrangements managing young people who require care and assurance.