Plan to lower age limit to make juvenile justice system effective

"There is no denying the fact that there has been an alarming rise in juvenile offence taking deadly nature in recent times," he added.

The daylong national consultation on Community Participation and Diversion in Juvenile Justice was held at the Department of Social Services.

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It was organised jointly by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) under its legal reform project.

The minister identified unhappy family life, frustration, acute poverty and social erosion as principal reasons for juvenile offence.

"Most of the juvenile offenders come from the upper class families often disturbed and disintegrated by extravagant lifestyle, lack of care and attention to children," he added.

He laid emphasis on the familial care and poverty alleviation as preventive measures to the problem and said community participation and coordination of the efforts of both public and private sector players are needed to bring an effective juvenile justice system in place.

Deprived class juveniles turn to crimes out of despair and distress, said Abdul Jabbar, social welfare secretary.

"As it's a delicate problem and dealt with in a corrective manner, we need to look for participation of family and community for its justice system," he added.

"My experience as a judge shows the more we punish the youth the more we push them away from their family and community," said Justice Barry Stuart, advisor to the CIDA legal reform project.

"More police, judges and jails do not help much, but partnership with family and community is crucial in addressing the problem," he added.

Describing the Bangladesh situation as very similar to that of Canada, Stuart said participation of community in justice system in Canada helped dispensation of juvenile justice.

To get to the exact nature and scope of the juvenile offence in Bangladesh, a comprehensive and organised research is needed, said the CIDA resident director James Baker.

During the business session, Justice Stuart made a presentation on 'Juvenile justice and community mobilisation'.