^ The problem with an attitude like this is that is that the society absolves itself or all responsibility. Your logic is that you will let a cactus grow in your garden, by failing to weed it out and then blame it for pricking you during your walk ?
That is exactly why these amendments are needed. It is necessary to weed out the thorns (criminals) from society when you find them before they hurt somebody else. Don't delude yourself into thinking that people do what they do solely because of the environment they grew up in. It may be one of the factors in some cases, but not the deciding factor in the every case. How people behave is a choice. People don't suddenly become any more mature at the exact moment they turn 18 than they were 5 min back.
Juvenile laws the way they are now are plain stupid. While I agree that there may be influencing factors for a crime and they should be examined properly no doubt, it is no different when the culprit is an adult. How do you explain away the away the Juvenile in Nirbhaya case behaved. Not only was she raped, but this person went on to torture her. He messed up her internal organs with a metal rod and with his bare hands and derived pleasure from it.
I want you to explain to me why this guy who is over 17 years old did what he did and why you believe that he would be mature enough not to have done that if he were 6 months older. What aspect of the environment he grew up in contributed to his behavior. There are plenty of people who grow up in the exact same kind of environment that he grew up in and still not behave like him.
We don't have laws and punishments just to make criminals mend themselves. I believe there are three different reasons
1. Correctional punishments meant to make criminals mend their ways.
2. Exemplary punishments to deter other potential criminals.
3. Getting rid of a menaces to society.
In majority of cases where 2 & 3 are not applied to serious crimes, there is a big percentage of repetition of crime.
Say I turn the tables around, will you send the girl to prison for 18-30 years saying she raped the boy ?
Do you know that in India, by law a woman cannot rape a man ? Even in case of extra-marital affairs, a woman cannot be punished (she is considered a victim) , but a man is punished. No proof is required to arrest a man for rape, and it is non bailable. What if an angry girlfriend accuses a teenager of rape ?
You still believe the Women's Organization are right ?
Why not? I am totally in favor of equality of justice be it a male, female, adult or child. In fact, long jail terms and death will deter fake cases as well because fake cases would be treated more seriously. In a case where potential punishment can be death, fake evidence and testimonies are treated as an attempt to murder.
Not an adult either !
Are you telling me that you as a teenager behaved as a responsible adult would ? (In context to your circumstances of course) you followed all the rules ? Your parents / elders never had to correct you ? (Nobody was there to correct him at any step, the effect cascaded)
Please... being a teenager does not give them the right to behave like animals. How retarded has a teenager have to be to rely on somebody to tell them that raping or murdering is not the right thing. There is a limit to things you can do to be excused as adolescence or immaturity. It does not give somebody Carte blanche to behave as they please.
Would you be the exact same person you are right now if you were born to and grew up - to a dictator ? Or to a trafficker / terrorist ?
Right... you would pardon somebody who hurts your family if his parents happened to be drug traffickers and he is only 17 years 364 days 23 hours old. Easy to say things without experiencing the pain a victims family has to go through.
Choice is not a singular decision. Its a option you take in a circumstance based on your previous experiences.
A part of the blame comes on us because, as a society it is our job to provide for and show our young the right way in life.
Yes, choice is not a singular decision. But choice is something every body has regardless of their environment. Even under the same environment people can behave differently.
- A person may choose to stay silent despite being hurt
- A person may fight back for justice.
- A person may return back what they suffered several times over
- A person may repeat the same with others
- A person may hurt others for personal gain.
- A person may hurt others without reason
- A person may hurt others and derive pleasure from it.
You cannot weigh everyone on the same scale and mask people committing grievous crimes because they happened to be under a certain age limit or because they grew up in such and such environment.
If you had to kill somebody in self defense because you had no choice, you still had a choice. You could have let them kill you. Its simply that you made a choice to save yourself at the cost of your attackers life and the law would have no qualms favoring your side. If somebody tortured and killed somebody for fun.. Its doesn't and shouldn't matter who they are and punishments should be meted out.