Inefficacy of Child Development Centers of Bangladesh: The Question of Social Reintegration of Juvenile Delinquents

Abstract

Children are one of the most vulnerable groups when in interaction with the criminal justice system. In Bangladesh, prolonged neglect, inaccessible justice, and lack of legal representation, along with deprivation of legal rights, are common in the juvenile criminal justice system, illustrating a gap in law and its implementation to protect the rights of juveniles who, in turn, become victims when in conflict with the law. Equally crucial are conditions of juveniles staying in the child development centers, the rehabilitative approaches adopted and the social integration process in place. The paper enquires on the effectiveness of these centers as institutes that are expected to develop, reform, and rehabilitate juveniles while also looking into the legal barriers posed by juvenile courts for their trials. With use of qualitative methodology and purposive sampling, in-depth semi-structured interviews were taken of 30 juvenile offenders, 10 family members, 5 lawyers, 8 correctional center officers, and 5 social welfare officers from all the correctional centers of Bangladesh. to assess whether the centers are being able to ensure a juvenile’s proper re-integration into society effectively; and to identify the barriers that leave juveniles isolated socio-legally. Findings show how the centers are not able to ensure effective social reintegration and provision of socio-legal services. Centers also become harmful environments with power dynamics and a lack of medical assistance, education, and counselling. Overall, while the centers aim to re-integrate the juveniles, they are failing to do so effectively.

Social Science Review, Vol. 41(2), December 2024, pp. 213-230