These days there has been considerable increase in the number of the criminal activities in which the juveniles are getting indulged day by day. In legal terminology the juvenile is a person who is generally lies in age group of 16 to 18 years. Earlier, the trend observed in juvenile crimes was inclined to petty crimes to a greater extent. But now a days, the trend has increasingly shifted towards serious and heinous crimes as the juvenile are losing the tenderness of their age and innocence pf their souls. Heinous offences are comparatively graver in nature and have a serious impact on physicality and psychic health of a person, for instance, crimes like rape, murder, homicide, drug abuse, etc.

Now, “Heinous Crimes” include the offences for which the minimum punishment under Indian Penal Code(45 of 1860) or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment for seven years or more.

The most recent examples are cases of Yamunanagar, where a sixteen year old boy killed a seven year old child or the Haryana Case where a eighteen year old student killed his own principal in the school. The most infamous which is talked about is is the Delhi Gang Rape Case in which a sixteen year old juvenile was involved and another is Shakti Mill Gang Rape Case where two juveniles were involved. Although no one is born criminal and its the circumstances which make any individual an offender.

There are several reasons associated with the heinous crime like nuclear family, family violence, mental health, harmonious change, racism etc. But in India the rate of juvenile crimes is rising because of the poverty and negative impact of social media on teenagers.

Let’s discuss the causes in detail;

1. FAMILY- The values and ethics of  the juvenile is derived by the guidance and parenthood of the family and parents respectively. Family is the first social group of any child from where they learn the difference between good& bad, right& wrong and values& norms. The behavior of any child is depends upon the way of his upbringing by his family. The family plays a very significant role in a teen’s life. And sometimes it’s the most important reason behind the offensive behavior of a juvenile. The child motivates to act heinous offense because of the violence occurred in his family or because of the abusive nature of parents which lead the juvenile stubborn and rigid and he get involved in criminal activities. Hence, the kind of values the family sow, the same kind of motivation the juvenile ripe. If the family members were engaged in any kind of criminal activity it directly gives a negative impact on the juvenile.
2. ABUSIVE PARENTING- The pattern of parenting is also an essential cause behind the heinous offense performed by a juvenile. If the parents are abusive or too strict it will always led the child in dark offenses. Example; In Great Noida Case a 17 year old boy killed his mother and sister because they abusively scolded him for studies. Hence, abusive parenting has also brings negative impact on a juvenile life.
3. PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS- Psychological problems are also one of the important factor behind the high rate of heinous crimes by the juvenile like depression, anxiety, frustration and mental illness by the pressure of family, society and media which can led them into criminal activities.
4. HARMONAL CHANGE- Harmonal changes is also a big cause in itself because in the period of adolescence there are various number of hormonal changes occur in the juvenile body, sometime the excessive change in emotion of anger, love and sorrowness can lead them in the direction of destruction and engage them in the trap of heinous offenses.
5. SOCIAL EVILS-The social evils in India is currently rising. It includes ageism, racism, sexism etc. and it leads the child in violence

-Like in society people generally do racism by defining white / fair color as beautiful & black / dark skin color as ugly. This kind of statement or stereotype brought negativity in child’s mind & create a hazard violence in him.

–  Also in India, boys are consider as pride and daughters are consider a burden which create anger in girls and they led on a wrong path. These kind of social evils leads the juvenile in criminal offence.

6. MORAL ISSUES – Morality is an important concern for teens in these days. They should know their values ethics but due to lack of respect towards their elders & family members. Their valueless attitude tend them into hatred and violence towards the society.

7.  SEX INDLGENCE – The teenagers who experience sexual assault in their childhood may develop some kind of repulsiveness in their mind and personality. So, in their adolescent they want to have sex and too much of sex variance can lead them in kidnapping, rape cases and sexual child assault to another kid as they have been treated earlier.

8. ECONOMICS ISSUES – In India, the youth have high financial aspiration which they can not afford and for the fulfillment of their particular ambition and status they choose the criminal offense such as robbery etc.

9. POVERTY – It is one of the most important and crucial factor in juvenile crime in India. The teen attracts to do illegal activities as they are poor so they could not get proper education which lead them unemployment and engagement of school. So for their basic needs they involve in criminal activities like robbery; due to their poor status they could not get proper food and can not remove their hunger and involve themselves in cheap smoking and consumption of alcohol which help them to sleep properly without having the full meal. Even due to lack of money they sale drugs involve themselves in prostitution and other heinous crimes.

Poverty is the cause in India by which juvenile have nothing to do and only to think in the direction of destruction and so they do only damages to the public property lead in curfew for attention and term themselves as adults and show hatred in other forms of social evils.

10- ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA – The role of social media is one of the most crucial and critical causes behind the heinous offenses of juvenile crime in India because they influence by the thing shown on it.

Hence, it is quite evident that juvenile delinquents do not have any inbuilt proclivity for getting indulged in criminal activities but certain adverse conditions force them to enter the gloomy world of crimes. So, its our responsibility as a society with the help of government and legal system to ensure that the children of tender age get the right education and environment. For this there are many areas which need to be worked up like improved living conditions, counselling, better psychological treatments, accessible opportunities of educations, etc. Also some necessary provisions need to be made to make the future of juveniles “better and brighter”.