Criminology Lecture #19 | Juvenile Delinquency and Police| CSS|PMS|PCS

Juvenile justice system is still a dream for many Asian countries. Despite the fact that almost all of the Asian nations have signed the Conventions on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and other landmark protocols and guidelines, the requisite infrastructure, training, commitment, skills and resources are still not enough to develop a viable and productive juvenile justice system in the under-developed countries of Asia. One major hurdle is that in most of Asia, the political and criminal justice systems are semi-democratic, colonial and authoritative in nature. Here the police and prosecution are more powerful than probation and social welfare departments. Most of the criminal justice pillars are under the Home or Interior Ministries instead of the Ministry of Justice or Human Rights. In view of this, the police in KPK Province launched a few initiatives in collaboration with other stakeholders, for developing an indigenous model of juvenile justice system. Police was the most rigid to sensitize on these human rights issues. However, with a continued commitment of a group of officers and other local and international stakeholders, they made a major break-through by introducing a new data collection system on juvenile justice indicators in the province, establishing the first of its kind of Police Child Protection Centre in the city, giving training to more than 5000 policemen on juvenile justice and children rights, and establishing a child rights wing in one of the police training colleges. Many reports are published and training material is developed which received greater applause from the government officials as well as the general public and media. The judiciary has appreciated the social services provided so far in the police child protection centre. The example is followed by other provinces and other departments and donors. The training material so produced is also utilized by other police colleges and training institutes. These best practices were studied by the author as a Case-study under the new research methodology of I2S (Implementation and Integration Sciences) during a course in the Australian National University in 2010. Some good points for initiating an indigenous juvenile justice system can be found in this study. Though, Pakistan has still not developed a complete and independent juvenile justice system, yet many good steps have been now taken now by different departments and stakeholders in this direction, no doubt the police in front in this case.


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