While recent events in India triggered discussions among sociologists and legal experts on aspects of the legislations related to juveniles, a thought provoking paper entitled The Juvenile Justice System in India and Children who commit serious offences – Reflections on the Way Forward was published by the Centre for Child and the Law (CCL), National Law School of India University NLSIU, Bangalore. The paper concludes :
The response to juvenile crime has to be fair, age-appropriate and reflective of an understanding of developmental psychology. Any amendment to existing law requires in-depth understanding of the jurisprudence, philosophy and impact of the current law...A number of countries around the world are moving away from policies of deterrence to that of restorative and reformative justice. India has a fairly progressive law grounded in universally recognized principles and approaches. The way forward should therefore be to demonstrate that the reformative/rehabilitative/ model does work, and that as a country with one of the best constitutions in the world, and a wealth of healing traditions, we have the vision, the will and the heart to prove it. Our children, our victims of juvenile crime and our society deserve no less.