The State Women and Child Development (WCD) department’s flagship initiative to provide psycho-social care to children in conflict with law and aid their community-based rehabilitation is paying dividends — it has brought down reoffending rates among juveniles to less than 3.8%.
A study in 2015 found 25% recidivism, that is repeat offending, among children in conflict with law in the State, which led to the piloting of the programme ‘Kaval’ with the support of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. Another assessment by NIMHANS put the rate of reoffending at 13.92%, but the figures were still high warranting a serious intervention to reduce reoffending rates among children.
Kaval is innovative for it incorporates government and non-governmental organisation partnership to provide multi-stakeholder support to children — counselling, school/educational support, mental health, family and community support, skill training, and de-addiction.
