Juvenile Institutions

In one line

The Juvenile Justice Act 2015 names four institutions for children in conflict with law, and the definition of a place of safety says what none of them may be.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 provides for observation homes, special homes, places of safety and fit facilities for children in conflict with law, and children's homes and open shelters for children in need of care and protection. Section 2(21) groups them as child care institutions, and section 2(46) defines a place of safety as a place or institution not being a police lock-up or jail.

The institutions

Four for a child in conflict with law, and a candidate should know which stage each belongs to.

And two for a child in need of care and protection: a children's home and an open shelter. Section 2(21) defines a child care institution to include the children's home, open shelter, observation home, special home, place of safety, specialised adoption agency and fit facility recognised under the Act.

The three that are easily confused

Observation home, special home and place of safety are the trio candidates run together.

The observation home is pre-decision. It holds a child temporarily while the Board inquires. Its counterpart in the adult system is the position of an undertrial, and the same reasoning applies: the child has not been found to have done anything, so the institution is for reception and care, not for a programme.

The special home is post-decision and reformative. Section 18(1)(g) states its purpose in terms: education, skill development, counselling, behaviour modification therapy and psychiatric support.

The place of safety is the exception route. The proviso to section 18(1)(g) allows the Board to send a child there instead of to a special home where his conduct and behaviour have been such that a special home would not be in his interest or in the interest of the other children housed there.