RT Article
T1 The ‘P-word’ in Indian juvenile justice: Toward a deeper understanding of legal rhetoric and practice
JF Punishment & society
VO 27
IS 3
SP 506
OP 529
A1 Prasad, Pupul Dutta
LA English
YR 2025
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1932042652
AB Although the Indian juvenile justice statute is rhetorically silent about punishment, nonetheless recognisably punitive ideas and practices remain ubiquitous. Standard interpretations do not go beyond legal analyses of the mismatch between discourse and practice. However, interviews with policymakers and practitioners arrayed throughout the juvenile justice field in India reveal the need for a nuanced and deeper understanding of legal rhetoric and practice. A more rigorous, qualitative analysis of penal practices foregrounds the interplay between a set of enabling factors that include, but are not limited to, social constructions of childhood deviance, and attitudes and interests of key juvenile justice actors. It also accounts for why Indian juvenile justice actors euphemise punishment as if it were an unspeakable ‘p-word’, while reinscribing punishment as a normal and normative objective to pursue.
K1 Rehabilitation
K1 Punishment
K1 Penal welfarism
K1 Law
K1 institutionalisation
K1 Indian juvenile justice
DO 10.1177/14624745241296960