I would like to draw the
attention of the concerned authorities towards the menace of juvenile
delinquency in Pakistan. A few days ago, I gave a presentation on juvenile
delinquency. At that time, it was only a presentation but now I have realized
that there has been an increase in juvenile delinquency. In recent years, a
large number of youth are drifting into minor to major delinquencies and they
are arrested by the police. Juvenile crimes can range from minor offences such
as underage smoking to serious crimes that are punishable under the law.
According to a report published by SPARC in 2012, there were 1,500 to 2,000
juveniles under the age of 18 who were imprisoned in Pakistan. In 2015, there
were 1,456 juvenile prisoners, who have been languishing in jails across the
country; out of these, 291 are in Sindh.
It is the responsibility of parents and school teachers to keep an eye on
teenagers. The government needs to improve the standard of education and take
major steps to eradicate poverty. In order to overcome this problem, the
government should provide opportunities to the people to achieve respectable
earnings and parents should also encourage their children at every stage of
their life.