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Globalization and Reforms in Juvenile Justice in South Asia: A Comparative Study of Law and Legal Advances in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh

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Crime, Criminal Justice, and the Evolving Science of Criminology in South Asia

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Abstract

From the beginning of the 1990s, the concept of a separate system of juvenile justice began to emerge as a global movement in almost all regions of the world primarily in the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989. The United Nations CRC borrowed the American model of juvenile justice, expanded it within the human rights framework, and then made it a part of a global movement for change and reforms in juvenile justice. This chapter explores how the major countries of South Asia (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) are responding to the global movement for modernizing juvenile justice, and what advances have been made in law and legal frameworks related to juvenile justice. The study of India’s Juvenile Justice Act of 1986, Juvenile Justice Act of 2000, and the Juvenile Justice Act of 2015; and Bangladesh’s Children Act of 2013 suggest that India and Bangladesh have made considerable progress in harmonizing the rules and principles of juvenile justice with those of the American model, the CRC, and the concept of child-friendly justice. Out of the three countries, Pakistan is still far behind in harmonizing its laws and rules of juvenile justice with those of international standards. Pakistan’s Juvenile Justice Ordinance of 2000 remained utterly ineffective partly because it was struck down by a court that challenged its legitimacy and constitutionality

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Hampton University, Hampton, USA

    Shahid M. Shahidullah

  2. Department of Criminal Justice, Sociology, and Social Work, Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, North Carolina, USA

    Shyamal Das

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  1. Shahid M. Shahidullah
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Correspondence to Shahid M. Shahidullah .

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  1. Sociology and Criminal Justice, Hampton University, Hampton, VA, USA

    Shahid M. Shahidullah

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Shahidullah, S.M., Das, S. (2017). Globalization and Reforms in Juvenile Justice in South Asia: A Comparative Study of Law and Legal Advances in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In: Shahidullah, S.M. (eds) Crime, Criminal Justice, and the Evolving Science of Criminology in South Asia. Palgrave Advances in Criminology and Criminal Justice in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50750-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50750-1_7

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