Minimum Age for Criminal Liability Laws and Marginalized Communities in Indian Sexual Offenses
Main Article Content
Abstract
This paper provides a comprehensive examination of the multifaceted approaches to addressing sexual offenses, focusing on legal frameworks, marginalization, and restorative justice practices. It explores the intricate interplay between legal responses, societal attitudes, and the experiences of survivors in navigating systems of justice and support. Legal frameworks serve as a cornerstone in addressing sexual offenses, encompassing criminalization, deterrence, and punishment of perpetrators. However, the effectiveness of legal measures is contingent upon their accessibility, responsiveness to survivors' needs, and the impact of systemic biases.
Marginalization exacerbates the challenges faced by survivors in accessing justice, with intersecting forms of discrimination contributing to underreporting, mistrust of authorities, and barriers to support services. Furthermore, this paper delves into the role of NGOs and civil society organizations in filling gaps in services, advocating for survivors' rights, and challenging societal attitudes and norms that perpetuate violence and stigma.
Moreover, restorative justice practices offer an alternative approach that prioritizes healing, accountability, and community involvement. By centering survivors' voices, promoting offender accountability, and engaging community support, restorative justice contributes to the creation of safer, more supportive communities. However, it's essential to recognize that restorative justice may not be appropriate or feasible in all cases and should complement rather than replace traditional legal responses.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
Bajpai, Asha. Child rights in India: Law, policy, and practice. Oxford University Press, 2018.
Winterdyk, John, ed. Juvenile justice systems: International perspectives. Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2002.
Thomas, Charles W., and Shay Bilchik. "Prosecuting juveniles in criminal courts: A legal and empirical analysis." J. Crim. L. & Criminology 76 (1985): 439.
Badrinarayana, Deepa. "A Colonial Perspective of Human Rights: Introductory Insights From British India." Tex. Int'l LJ 58 (2022): 45.
Nader, Laura. "Promise or plunder? A past and future look at law and development." Global Jurist 7, no. 2 (2007).
Menski, Werner. "Postmodern Hindu Law." (2001).
Wright, Barry. "Macaulay's Indian Penal Code: historical context and originating principles." In Codification, Macaulay and the Indian Penal Code, pp. 19-55. Routledge, 2016.
Singh, Ujjwal K. Political prisoners in India, 1920-1977. University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (United Kingdom), 1996.
Rizvi, Shagufta Fatima. "The revamping of the laws of sexual violence in india via nirbhaya case: a critical legal analysis." (2022).
Nellis, Ashley. A return to justice: Rethinking our approach to juveniles in the system. Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
Fox, Sanford J. "Juvenile justice reform: An historical perspective." Stan. L. Rev. 22 (1969): 1187.
Tobin, John, ed. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A commentary. OUP Oxford, 2019.
Heldman, Jessica K. "Transforming the culture of youth justice in the wake of youth prison closures." Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 26 (2022): 1.
Yaffe, Gideon. The age of culpability: Children and the nature of criminal responsibility. Oxford University Press, 2018.
Lansdown, Gerison. The evolving capacities of the child. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2005.
Scraton, Phil, and Deena Haydon. "Challenging the criminalization of children and young people." Youth Justice: Critical Readings. London: Sage publications (2002).
Abedin, Chandrika. "Maximum Diversion and Minimum Intervention should be the Fundamental Principles of any Youth Justice System." Manchester Review of Law, crime & Ethics 12 (2024).
Act, P. O. C. S. O. "Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012." (2023).
Basu, Srimati. "Sexual property: Staging rape and marriage in Indian law and feminist theory." Feminist Studies 37, no. 1 (2011): 185-211.
Verma, Jagdish Sharan, Leila Seth, Gopal Subramanian, and Justice JS Verma Committee. "Report of the committee on amendments to criminal law." (2013).
Hörnle, Tatjana. "Rape as non-consensual sex." In The Routledge Handbook of the Ethics of Consent, pp. 235-246. Routledge, 2018.
Sobsey, Dick, and Tanis Doe. "Patterns of sexual abuse and assault." Sexuality and disability 9 (1991): 243-259.
Harris, Angela P., and Aysha Pamukcu. "The Civil Rights of Health: A New Approach to Challenging Structural Inequality." UCLA L. Rev. 67 (2020): 758.
Fox, Jonathan, and Yasemin Akbaba. "Restrictions on the religious practices of religious minorities: A global survey." Political Studies 63, no. 5 (2015): 1070-1086.
Saraff, Sweta, Tushar Singh, Harleen Kaur, and Ramakrishna Biswal. "Stigma and health of Indian LGBT population: A systematic review." Stigma and Health 7, no. 2 (2022): 178.
McDonald, Hugh. "Assessing Access to Justice: How Much" Legal" Do People Need and How Can We Know?." UC Irvine L. Rev. 11 (2020): 693.
MacDowell, Elizabeth L. "Vulnerability, access to justice, and the fragmented state." Mich. J. Race & L. 23 (2017): 51.
Lincoln, Yvonna S., and Christine A. Stanley. "The faces of institutionalized discrimination and systemic oppression in higher education: Uncovering the lived experience of bias and procedural inequity." Qualitative Inquiry 27, no. 10 (2021): 1233-1245.
Cunneen, Chris. "Racism, discrimination and the over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system: Some conceptual and explanatory issues." Current issues in criminal justice 17, no. 3 (2006): 329-346.
Burnett, Camille, Michael Swanberg, Ashley Hudson, and Donna Schminkey. "Structural Justice: A critical feminist framework exploring the intersection between justice, equity and structural reconciliation." Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice 11, no. 4 (2018): 4.
Leon-Guerrero, Anna. Social problems: Community, policy, and social action. Sage publications, 2018.
Greene, Sara Sternberg. "Race, class, and access to civil justice." Iowa L. Rev. 101 (2015): 1263.
Heimer, Karen. "Changes in the gender gap in crime and women’s economic marginalization." Criminal justice 1 (2000): 427-483.
Hutchings, Merryn. "Financial barriers to participation." In Higher education and social class, pp. 167-186. Routledge, 2005.
Breger, Marshall J. "Legal aid for the poor: a conceptual analysis." NCL Rev. 60 (1981): 281.
Moyer, Melissa G., and Luisa Martín Rojo. "Language, migration and citizenship: New challenges in the regulation of bilingualism." In Bilingualism: A social approach, pp. 137-160. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2007.
Hildembrand, Sandrine. "The effects of the social imposition of stigma and self-stigma on convicted sex offenders: A phenomenological study." PhD diss., Fielding Graduate University, 2019.
Wong, Sheila Shu Man. "Understanding sexual assault: The ways in which young women conceptualize sexual violence." (2014).
Haboush, Karen L., and Hala Alyan. "“Who can you tell?” Features of Arab culture that influence conceptualization and treatment of childhood sexual abuse." Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 22, no. 5 (2013): 499-518.
Sankofa, Jasmine. "Mapping the blank: Centering black women's vulnerability to police sexual violence to upend mainstream police reform." Howard LJ 59 (2015): 651.
Gueta, Keren, Gila Chen, and Natti Ronel. "Trauma-oriented recovery framework with offenders: A necessary missing link in offenders' rehabilitation." Aggression and Violent Behavior 63 (2022): 101678.
Borodina, Elizaveta, Ekaterina V. Kiseleva, and Nataliya S. Semenova. "Dignity as a traditional value: International legal analysis." Indian Journal of Science and Technology (2016).
Freccero, Julie, Lauren Harris, Melissa Carnay, and Cole Taylor. "Responding to sexual violence: Community approaches." Sexual Violence & Accountability Project (2011).
Neeley, Janet E. "Addressing sexual assault in criminal justice, higher education and employment: What restorative justice means for survivors and community accountability." Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy 31, no. 1 (2021): 1-60.