Int. J. Agr. Ext. 03 (01) 2015.

57-61

Available Online at ESci Journals

International Journal of Agricultural Extension

ISSN: 2311-6110 (Online), 2311-8547 (Print)
http://www.escijournals.net/IJAE

SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING JUVENILE DELINQUENCY: A STUDY IN

BORSTAL JAILS, PUNJAB
Nasreen Akhter, Mehwish Sabeen, Muhammad Nadeem, Hafiz U. Khan
Department of Rural Sociology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan.

ABSTRACT

Juvenile Delinquency refers to criminal acts committed by children or teenagers, particularly less than eighteen
years of age. Juvenile delinquency known as juvenile offending or youth crime is participation in illegal behavior by
minors (juveniles) individuals younger than the statutory age of majority. Most legal systems prescribe specific
procedures for dealing with juveniles like juvenile detention centres and courts. Common sentiment on this issue is
that the crimes they commit affect society and offend the children. Present study explored the juvenile delinquents
and their main socio-economic factors leading them to commit a crime. Study was conducted in Faisalabad and
Bahawalpur districts of Punjab province. Two borstal institutions and juvenile jails are located for juvenile’s
rehabilitation in study districts. The respondents were male delinquents of 13-18 years age living in the selected
districts. Total 140 respondents (70 from each jail) were selected through simple random sampling technique. Data
were collected with the help of a well-designed interview schedule. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for
Social Sciences. Findings revealed that about 72% respondents were literate with maximum age of 17-18 years
(47.1%). Majority of respondents’ parents were educated. However, 40% fathers and 46.4% mothers were found
illiterate. About 65% respondents’ annual income was falling in between 5000-15000 clarifying their state of
poverty. Therefore, children were compelled to join bad acts like Dacoity, theft etc. about 34.3% respondents
committed a murder followed by 16.4% performed Dacoity and 12.9 indulged in theft. Chi Square analysis accepted
both of the hypotheses that Family structure influence the juvenile delinquency and Peer group influence the
juvenile delinquency. Study recommended that to keep children safe from social evil its mandatory to monitor their
activities and treat them with affection and equality. Electronic media should disseminate positive messages for the
youth encouragement and capacity building.
Keywords: Factors, Punjab, Jail, Education

57
 Int. J. Agr. Ext. 03 (01) 2015. 57-61
INTRODUCTION
Delinquency a legal term for criminal behavior carried out
by a juvenile is often the result of Escalating problematic
behavior. Definitions of delinquency vary among different
groups. To alleviate confusion we describe three
perspectives on delinquency. First perspective depicts
parental concerns about juvenile delinquency. Parents
may define disruptive and delinquent behavior in case of
disobedience, fighting with siblings destroying or
damaging property, stealing money from family members
or threatening parents with violence. Second perspective
is educational view
______________________________________about juvenile
delinquency. School staff members
often____________________________
* Corresponding Author:
Email: haq.uaf@gmail.com
© 2015 ESci Journals Publishing. All rights reserved.
regard delinquent behavior which disturbs classroom
learning, violates the school code of conduct and threatens
the safety of faculty and students. Third perspective is
mental health assessment about juvenile delinquency
(Javed et al., 2007).
Juvenile delinquency is at the forefront of social challenges
globally. This concern interrupts economic development
as youth crime rates are rising in virtually every part of
the world. The delicate intersection between childhood
and criminality creates a complex dilemma to deal with.
Social scientists, activists, and legislators are all debating
both the causes and potential solutions (United Nations,
2003). Extreme poverty, negligence from all sides, the
sexual urge, educational and financial problems and
demands of the growing age lead people to adopt unfair
means in order to meet and satisfy their urges. The youth
should be taught about effective code of conduct through
education to let them learn how to behave in the scheme
of the society. The juveniles should be treated
commendably and should be kept away from the senior
criminals to reduce the likelihood of becoming criminals
(Eadie and Morley, 2003).
The literature has found several determinants of juvenile
criminal involvement (Levitt and Lochner, 2000).
Biological factors like being male, having low intelligence
and short time horizon are anticipated as precise
determinants of crime. Family background factors like
erratic parental discipline, lack of adequate supervision
and maternal rejection are strongly linked with crime
58
involvement. Social factors including income inequality
and marginalization also exert significant influence on
delinquent behavior among youth in particular. Becker
(1968) had reported that juvenile delinquency could be
thought of a rational response to the incentives for legal
and criminal activities. According the estimation youths
will engage in criminal behavior if the potential gains are
large enough and the likelihood of substantial punishment
is relatively low.
Thus, keeping in view the above facts present study
"socio-economic factors affecting juvenile delinquency"
was designed with emphasis on following objectives:.
• To investigate the background characteristics of the
Juveniles
• To assess the respondents extent of involvement in
juvenile offense.
• To suggest measures to reduce juvenile delinquency
in the society.
METHODOLOGY
Any set of individuals or objects having common
observable characteristics constitute a population or
universe. Due to accessibility and feasibility reasons the
study was limited to only two prisons. All the prisoners
below 18 years of age were assumed as study population.
The study was conducted at Faisalabad and Bahawalpur
Districts in Punjab Province, where two Borstal
Institutions and Juvenile Jails are located for juvenile’s
rehabilitation. Complete list of prisoners of less than 18
years of age was prepared to draw sampling frame. From
the each selected jail 70 respondents were selected using
simple random sampling technique thereby making a
sample size of 140 total respondents. All the respondents
selected were male and of age in between 13-18 years.
Interview schedule was used as research instrument. Data
were collected using face to face interviews of the
respondents. Collected data were analysed using
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Chi square
test was also applied to probe the association between
dependent and independent variables.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Data depicted in Table 1 is illustration of educational
status of the respondents. It appeared from the data that
about slightly greater than one fourth (27.9%)
respondents were illiterate. Findings infer that these
people had ever been given an opportunity to attend the
formal institution for education. Rest of the 72.1%
respondents were having education of varied level. For
instance, 25% respondents were educated of primary
 Int. J. Agr. Ext. 03 (01) 2015. 57-61

level followed by the 27.1% farmers with middle level of Unfortunately, in spite of education and understanding
education. Exact one fifth respondents were having they committed a crime and were captured in jail.
maximum education of matriculation and above.
Table 1. Distribution of the respondents according to their education.
Education of the respondents Frequency Percentage
Uneducated 39 27.9
Primary 35 25.0
Middle 38 27.1
Metric and above 28 20.0
Total 140 100.0
Table 2. Distribution of the respondents according to their age.

Age of the respondents (in years) Frequency Percentage

13-14 years 15 10.7
15-16 years 59 42.1
17-18 years 66 47.1
Total 140 100.0
Table 3. Distribution of the respondents according to their father’s educational status.
Father’s educational status Frequency %age
Uneducated 56 40.0
Primary-Middle 30 21.4
Metric-intermediate 47 33.6
Above intermediate 7 5.0
Total 140 100.0
Table 4. Distribution of the respondents according to their mother’s educational status.

Mother’s educational status Frequency Percentage

Uneducated/illiterate 65 46.4
Primary-Middle 30 21.4
Metric-Intermediate 40 28.6
Above Intermediate 5 3.6
Total 140 100.0
middle level followed by only 3.6% of
For educated mother least level was Primary- middle to primary-
and maximum level was above intermediate level. respondents mothers qualified to maximum level of Greater than one
fifth respondents mothers were literate intermediate education.
Table 5. Distribution of the respondents according to their monthly family income.
Monthly family income (Rs.) Frequency %age
5000-15000 91 65.0
15000-30000 42 30.0
Above 30000 7 5.0
Total 140 100.0

59
 Int. J. Agr. Ext. 03 (01) 2015. 57-61

Data mentioned in Table 5 indicates that a large majority indicated that most
ch were
of theresource
criminalspoor
were
or were
belonging
earning
to
i.e. 65.0% of the respondents had Rs. 5001-15000 poor families whi limited income.
id thatItpoverty
can be and
sa for better
wishes
monthly family income, 30.0% of them had Rs. life were crime. leading these young children towards
1500130000 and remaining 5.0%t of them had abovethe Rs. type of crime which they committed.
30000 monthly family income. Findings summary
Table 6. Distribution of the respondents according to
Type of crime Frequency %age
Murder 48 34.3
Theft 18 12.9
Dacoity 23 16.4
Pickpocket 2 1.4
Kidnapping 5 3.6
Prohibition abduction & rape 17 12.1
Narcotics 8 5.7
Any other 19 13.6
Total 140 100.0

respondents of the respondents involved in pickpocket,

Table 6 presents the type of crime which they committed. 3.6% of them committed kidnapping, 12.1% of them
About one-third i.e. 34.3% of the respondents were involved in prohibition abduction and rape, 5.7% of them
were involved in narcotics.
involved in Murder case, while 12.9% of them told that
they committed murder and 16.4% of them said that they It can be said that Murder and Dacoity appeared major
remain involved in Dacoity. About 1.4% of the reasons. Murder is the outcome of conflicts while Dacoity
was performed just for income generation.
Hypothesis 1: Family structure will be influence the juvenile delinquency.
Table 7. Association between family structure and juvenile delinquency.
Juvenile delinquency
Family structure Total
Low Medium High
Low 3 4 14 21
14.3% 19.1% 66.7% 100.0%
Medium 5 24 17 46
10.7% 52.2% 36.9% 100.0%
High 18 50 5 73
24.7% 68.5% 6.8% 100.0%

Total 26 78 36 140
18.6% 55.7% 25.7% 100.0%
Chi-square = 18.85 d.f. = 6 Significance = .006** Gamma = .396
**= Highly-Significant
Table 7 presents the association between family structure relationship between the variables. It means poor family and
juvenile delinquency. Chi-square value shows a highly- structure had more influence on the juvenile delinquency as
significant association between family structure and the compared to high family structure. So the hypothesis “Family
juvenile delinquency. Gamma value shows a negative structure will influence the juvenile delinquency” is accepted.
Hypothesis 2: Peer group will be influence the juvenile delinquency.
Table 8. Association between peer group and juvenile delinquency.

60
 Int. J. Agr. Ext. 03 (01) 2015. 57-61
Peer group
Juvenile delinquency
Low Medium
Low 16 35
27.1% 59.3%
Medium 5 28
12.5% 70.0%
High 5 15
2.2% 36.6%
Total 26 78
18.6% 55.7%
Chi-square = 31.02 d.f. = 4 Significance = .000**
**= Highly-Significant
Table 8 presents the association between peer group and
juvenile delinquency. Chi-square value shows a highly-
significant association between peer group and the
juvenile delinquency. Gamma value shows a strong
positive relationship between the variables. It means poor
group had more influence on the juvenile delinquency. So
the hypothesis “Peer group will be influence the juvenile
delinquency” is accepted.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Juvenile delinquency is on the rise and the society at large
has to follow a holistic approach to arrest the rising trend
of social evils. Based on the empirical results of the study,
following recommendations are made for the policy
makers, parents, civil society, public at large and the law
enforcing agencies. The conflict between parents is a
strong variable for juvenile delinquency. Therefore,
parents should avoid conflicting attitude in front of their
children. There is also a need for social therapy for such
parents through media, counselling and peer pressure.
Mother’s education matters a lot in tending and mending
the child behaviour in a positive manner, therefore, it is
emphasized to encourage female education. It is common
saying that the best school for a child is the lap of a
mother. Here, the government and NGO’s should play vital
role to improve the living conditions of slum areas. There
is a dire need to provide community guidance centers,
playing ground, parks etc. Electronic media should
disseminate positive message for the encouragement and
capacity building of youth.
Juvenile offences are investigated through traditional
means and even the trials courts take long period to
decide for want of properly investigated cases in
prosecution witnesses. Therefore, there should be special
61
Total
High
8 59
13.6% 100.0%
7 40
17.5% 100.0%
21 41
51.2% 100.0%
36 140
25.7% 100.0%
Gamma = .604
investigation centers rather than traditional police
centers. The investigation officers should be provided
refresher courses in order to investigate the juvenile
crimes aptly and justly.
The minor juvenile offences should be treated as
probationary and the probation department must be up
graded and strengthened to handle juvenile probationers.
The reactivation of Reformatory Schools and
rehabilitation centers should be a priority and these must
be established at appropriate places to handle juvenile
convicts to groom them as better citizens. The present
two Borstal Institutions and juvenile jails must be up
graded and should be staffed with qualified
Sociologists/Anthropologists and Psychologists to
provide social counseling to the juvenile convicts. Borstal
Institutions should be adequately funded to achieve th
objectives of skill development of juveniles in different
and useful trades.
REFERENCES
Becker, G. (1968). Crime and Punishment: An Economic
Approach. Journal of Political
Economy 76(2):169-217.
Eadie, T. and R. Morley. (2003). ‘Crime, Justice and
Punishment’ in Baldock, J. et al. (eds) Social Policy
(3rd edn.) Oxford: Oxford University Press
Javed, M., Z. Azhar, H.N. Anwar, M.M. Sohail. (2007).
Factors affecting to juvenile delinquency: a study
conducted at Borstal jails of Punjab. Asian Journal
of Empirical Research, 2(6),183-197.
Levitt, S. and L. Lochner. (2000). The Determinants of
Juvenile Crime. In J. Gruber (Ed.), "Risky
Behavior by Youths. University of Chicago Press.
United Nations. (2003). Juvenile Delinquency." World
Youth Report.