Knock Knock: Should juveniles be tried as adults for heinous crimes?

The Union government has proposed a major change to India’s Juvenile Justice Act 2000. It wants 16 to 18 year olds charged with committing heinous crimes, to be tried as adults, following the assessment of the Juvenile Justice Board. The assessment whether a crime was committed as a ‘child’ or as an ‘adult’ will be made by psychologists and social experts.The accused will be tried accordingly.

Governments have been under pressure to be tougher on juvenile criminals especially since the brutal rape and murder of Jyoti Singh in December 2012 in Delhi. One of the six accused ‘Bhura’, aged 17 and a half years reportedly one of the the most violent of the six convicted, received three years in a reform home as he was minor.

Even as the government gets ready to introduce an amendment with these changes in the current session of Parliament, young people react to the move.