Children as Offenders and Victims of Crime: An Analytical Study on their Place in the Criminal Justice System with special reference to India

This article deals with the topic of the treatment of children in various criminal justice systems across the world, with special emphasis on India. It aims to examine how children are treated when they are the offenders committing the crime and how they are treated when they are the victims of a crime. Starting off with the introduction, the article aims to define who a child is according to law and what the rights of a child are. The next part deals with children as victims of crimes and how this victimization of children is actually brought about. This part entails a brief overview about the types of child victims and how crimes committed against them have a negative effect on them. The next part deals with children as offenders. This part entails a brief overview on how a child tends to become a criminal and what can be done to prevent the same from happening. The next part deals with how it is often the child victims who turn into criminals due to a variety of factors. This article has tried to bring forth how the criminal justice system affects these children.