Snehil Gupta, Sagar Rajesh
Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Department of Psychiatry and National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Indian J Psychol Med. 2020 Apr 25;42(3):304-310. doi: 10.4103/IJPSYM.IJPSYM_82_20. eCollection 2020 May-Jun.
Juvenile justice system (JJS) and the mental health of the juveniles involved in it are intricately related. Children in conflict with the law (CICL) and children in need of care and protection (CINCP) have a higher prevalence of mental health-and substance use related-problems, similarly, juveniles with mental health problems have a higher chance of coming in contact with JJS. Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 (JJ Act), with its latest amendment (2015), emphasizes the developmental well-being, including the psychological well-being of juveniles coming in contact with JJS and their social reintegration and rehabilitation. Mental health professionals (MHPs) can play a significant role in realizing this goal by contributing at all the levels: mental health promotion, preventing juveniles from coming in contact with JJS, treating juveniles in contact with JJS, and subsequent rehabilitation. Being well-versed in this area would also give a clinical and legal edge to the MHPs. Although JJ Act is a child-friendly law, its implementation in the real-world is faced with many practical challenges, which in turn limit or undermine the full legal, social, educational, and health benefits to the juveniles. The current viewpoint is aimed to highlight the important mental health aspects of juveniles involved with JJS with reference to the JJ Act (care and protection of children act, 2015) and the potential role that MHPs can play and discusses important challenges and road ahead.
少年司法系统（JJS）与参与其中的青少年的心理健康有着复杂的关联。违法儿童（CICL）和需要照顾与保护的儿童（CINCP）出现心理健康及物质使用相关问题的比例更高。同样，有心理健康问题的青少年与少年司法系统接触的可能性也更大。2000年《少年司法法》（JJ法）及其最新修正案（2015年）强调了青少年的发展福祉，包括与少年司法系统接触的青少年的心理健康以及他们的社会重新融入和康复。心理健康专业人员（MHPs）可以通过在各个层面做出贡献来实现这一目标：促进心理健康、防止青少年与少年司法系统接触、治疗与少年司法系统接触的青少年以及后续的康复。精通这一领域也将赋予心理健康专业人员临床和法律优势。尽管JJ法是一部关爱儿童的法律，但在现实世界中的实施面临许多实际挑战，这反过来限制或削弱了青少年所能获得的充分法律、社会、教育和健康福利。当前的观点旨在参照JJ法（2015年儿童照顾与保护法）强调与少年司法系统相关的青少年的重要心理健康方面，以及心理健康专业人员可以发挥的潜在作用，并讨论重要挑战和未来之路。
