National Law Institute University

Project Report in Criminology

On:
BROKEN HOME

Submitted To:

Submitted By:

Dr. P.K. Shukla

Sarika Munje

Associate Professor
Criminology

IV Trimester
2012 BA LLB 01

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
MEANING OF BROKEN HOME.............................................................................................4
BROKEN HOME AND CRIME...............................................................................................4
SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY.................................................................................................5
THE ROLE OF THE FAMILY..................................................................................................5
DIFFERENT FACTORS LEADING TO CRIME.....................................................................7
1.

FATHERLESS FAMILIES.............................................................................................7

2.

THE ABSENCE OF A MOTHER'S LOVE....................................................................8

3.

PARENTAL FIGHTING AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.............................................9

4.

LACK OF PARENTAL SUPERVISION AND DISCIPLINE......................................10

5.

PARENTAL ABUSE OR NEGLECT...........................................................................11

6.

CRIMINAL PARENTS.................................................................................................12

ANALYSIS OF DATA.............................................................................................................13
APPLICATION OF THE CONCEPT IN INDIA....................................................................15
PROTECTION MEASURES SUGGESTED..........................................................................17
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................19
BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................19

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INTRODUCTION
That crimes occur is a fact. But what leads to causation of crime is a subjective question and
is varied and much debated. Many factors lead to crime but if causes of crime are to be
studied then instead of single acts of crime, a large number of crimes need to be seen in order
to observe a trend and draw reasonable conclusions. The earlier notions that crime is caused
by the will of the supernatural or because of inherent features in the criminal (born criminal
by Cesare Lombroso) have now been disregarded to a large extent and now new theories to
explain such causation have come up. This includes The Differential Association Theory by
Edwin H. Sutherland and such others.
One of the latest developments in the research on causation of crime has turned to the Social
Control Theory which involves the association and control from family, school, morals, ideas
etc, and the most prominent one being the Family as a person tends to spend most part of his
childhood life at home. The non-conformity of the family with that of the accepted rules in
the society, especially in cases of collapse of the family structure is one of the major causes of
disassociation with the family and is referred to as the Broken Home.
The project report aims to study the effect of broken homes on crime. The various ways in
which the children of broken home are affected due to disrupted families and the reasons for
their turn towards delinquency are seen next. The results are correlated with data analysis on
different issues such as gender differences and different types of crimes. The application of
this theory has been seen with reference to India. At last suggestions have been given with
respect to controlling the number of crimes done in pursuance of this cause through legal and
social measures.

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MEANING OF BROKEN HOME

Broken home is a worldwide problem and it occurs in a situation whereby the parent are not
able to cope with each other may be as a result of financial constraint or incompatibility of
their behaviour hence the child is forced to live with either of the parents.
Broken Home can be defined as a condition where the normal relationship between the father,
mother, child or children is disturbed, either by the presence of one or both parents or the
intrusion of others into the circle. This situation, therefore, arises if either parent is dead,
divorced or separated, or if step- parents or even step-children or adopted children are
introduced into the home. The same situation arises when the child is subjected to divided
loyalties, for example, when he spends a large part of his time with an aunt or grandmother
and the rest of his time living at home with his parents.

BROKEN HOME AND CRIME

The effect of broken home on the children is very disturbing. It is characterized by lack of
time by the single parent towards the children who in order to make both ends meet will not
be at home most of the time. The child is deprived of love and affection and parents
enlightenment and motivation on how to go about things.
The family in this situation becomes less important as an educating agent. The parent of the
child with whom he is living may re marry, the child may not be acceptable by the step
parent. Thus, such a child becomes a liability instead of an asset. The child may be maltreated
in various forms. That is the child may not be given adequate food and money to school and
will therefore be exposed to stealing or running away to do meager jobs to feed him or
herself.
The child at this adolescent age wants independence from the family but attaining adult status
and developing as a unique individual needs guidance which may be lacking in this situation.
The family could no longer prepare the child for traditional adult role which he/she is
expected to play in the society. So the child finds it difficult to formulate values acceptable to
his /her own group, to parent and to cultural mores.
In the course of adolescent development task, the home is of greatest importance. A good
home provides love, support, encouragement and security to cope with lifes demand and
helps the child in adjustment to the outside word. A warm and rewarding parent-adolescence
relationship helps to keep the process of identity formation on a smooth course. The absence
of either of the parent will definitely leave a scar in his socializing process.
This is where delinquency comes into action. The effect of broken home on crime can be seen
through the following theories:

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SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY

Theories of social control focus on the strategies and techniques which help regulate human
behaviour and thus lead to conformity and compliance of the rules of society, including the
influences of family, school, morals, values, beliefs, etc.,
The questions that are raised are why people conform to norms, why people conform in the
face of so much temptation, peer pressure, and inducement. It is answered by these theorists
as follows: Juveniles and adults conform to the law in response to certain controlling forces
which are present in their lives. Thus, they are likely to become criminal when the controlling
forces in their lives are defective or absent.
Social control theorists argue that the more involved and committed a person is to
conventional activities, the greater the attachment to others (such as family and friends), the
less likely that a person is to violate the rules of society.
Social control has its roots in the early part of this century in the work of sociologist E.A.
Ross. Ross believed that belief systems, not specific laws, guide what individuals do and this
serves to control behaviour, no matter the forms that beliefs may take.
Social control mechanisms can be adopted as laws, norms, mores, ethics, etiquette, and
customs, which all control and thus define behaviour. Although societal institutions such as
educational institutions, religion etc. plays a very important role in such social control but it
is seen that it is the FAMILY which is the most important in societal control. The reason for
this being that is the family that exercises the most control over the individual as the
individual is most associated with the family. Also the individual spends most part of his
young and adolescent life with the family during the time when the shaping of the
individuals ideals, beliefs, thinking pattern and action control mechanism develops.

THE ROLE OF THE FAMILY

In advancing the Social Contract Theory, the role of family can be seen to be one of the
important causes of crime. In modernist criminology there is a long-standing reliance on
researching family life to 'explain'/'predict' juvenile as well as other forms of crime. From the
late 1990s the internal workings of the family continue to provide researchers with a host of
factors which they seek to use to explain crime. In this regard though they did not initiate the
idea, British writers like Winnicott (1971) and Bowlby (1940; 1953) did much to give
credibility to the idea that children who displayed maladjusted and/or anti-social
behaviours came from dysfunctional families.
Bowlby and Winnicott famously claimed that the 'deprivation of maternal love and warmth'
in the early years of childhood was likely to produce all manner of problematic attitudes and
behaviours in the child later on. Bowlby (1953) argued that the prolonged separation of the
child from his/her mother (or mother substitute) during the first five years, ' ... stands
foremost among the causes of delinquent character development.' In America, one of the first
major studies to focus on family relationships and delinquency was undertaken by two
Harvard criminologists Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck (1950; 1959) through the 1940s and
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1950s. The Gluecks carried out a longitudinal study of more than 500 officially defined
delinquent boys -matched with non-delinquent boys from Boston. The Gluecks assembled a
vast range of social, psychological and biological data aimed at identifying the particular
characteristics of the delinquent. The results of their research, demonstrated the apparent
link between family life and juvenile delinquency. The Gluecks argued that delinquent
behaviour could be predicted by a number of key factors, including:
the extent to which the boy was disciplined by the father;
the nature of mothers supervision of the boy;
the extent of affection of the father and mother for the boy;
and the general cohesiveness of the family (Glueck & Glueck 1950).
The claim that the internal workings of families was primarily responsible for the onset of
delinquent behaviours was central to their explanation of crime. The actions of offenders
were therefore directly attributable to the dynamics of dysfunctional family life.
In the past quarter century there has been a proliferation of studies making causal and
'predictive' links between family functioning and the onset of delinquency. While factors
like unemployment, urban decay, poor education and housing are also used to explain the
onset of offending, it is the internal dynamics of family life that has arguably received most
empirical attention.
If nothing else the efforts to identify the role of family factors in the creation of delinquency
have been exhaustive. Wells and Rankin (1991) note that during the 1980s in the United
States at least 65 major studies were conducted on the relationship between 'broken families'
and crime.

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DIFFERENT FACTORS LEADING TO CRIME

There are many forms of Broken Home. The effect of different kinds of broken homes on
crimes are different. Some of these are as follows:
1. FATHERLESS FAMILIES
According to the professional literature, the absence of the father is the single most important
cause of poverty. The same is true for crime. According to Kevin and Karen Wright, Research
into the idea that single-parent homes may produce more delinquent dates back to the early
19th century. Officials at New York State's Auburn Penitentiary, in an attempt to discern the
causes of crime, studied the biographies of incarcerated men.
The growth of the poverty-ridden family today is linked directly with the growth of the
family headed by the always-single mother. And this modern form of family disintegration
-or more accurately non-formation - has its consequences for criminal behaviour. The growth
in crime is paralleled by the growth in families abandoned by fathers.
The rate of juvenile crime within each state is closely linked to the percentage of children
raised in single-parent families. States with a lower percentage of single-parent families, on
average, will have lower rates of juvenile crime. State-by-state analysis indicates that, in
general, a 10 percent increase in the number of children living in single-parent homes
(including divorces) accompanies a 17 percent increase in juvenile crime.
Along with the increased probability of family poverty and heightened risk of delinquency, a
father's absence is associated with a host of other social problems. The three most prominent
effects are lower intellectual development, higher levels of illegitimate parenting in the
teenage years, and higher levels of welfare dependency. The effect of fatherless families
leading to crime is because of the following reasons.
ABANDONED MOTHERS
In normal families a father gives support to his wife, particularly during the period
surrounding birth and in the early childhood years when children make heavy demands on
her. In popular parlance, he is her "burn-out" prevention. But a single mother does not have
this support, and the added emotional and physical stress may result in fatigue and less parent
availability to the child, increasing the risk of a relationship with the child that is emotionally
more distant. The single mother generally is less able to attend to all of her child's needs as
quickly or as fully as she could if she were well taken care of by a husband. These factors
tend to affect the mother's emotional attachment to her child and in turn reduce the child's
lifelong capacity for emotional attachment to others and empathy for others. Such empathy
helps restrain a person from acting against others' well-being. Violent criminals obviously
lack this. Under such conditions the child is at risk of becoming a psychopath.
ABANDONED SONS
A father's attention to his son has enormous positive effects on a boy's emotional and social
development. But a boy abandoned by his father is deprived of a deep sense of personal
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security. A close and intense relationship between a boy and his father prevents hostility and
inappropriate aggressiveness. This inappropriate aggressiveness is an early indication of
potential delinquency later on, particularly in boys. Furthermore, such bad behaviour is a
barrier to the child's finding a place among his more normal peers, and aggressiveness usually
is the precursor of a hostile and violent "street" attitude. These young men, very sensitive in
their demands for "respect," display a demeanour which communicates "deterrent aggression"
not unlike the behaviour that causes normal peers to reject and isolate aggressive boys in
grade school. The message of this body language, of course, triggers rejection by the normal
adult community.
ABSENCE OF A FATHER'S AUTHORITY AND DISCIPLINE
The dominant role of fathers in preventing delinquency is well-established. Over forty years
ago, this phenomenon was highlighted in the classic studies of the causes of delinquency by
Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck of Harvard University. They described in academic terms what
many children hear their mothers so often say: "Wait till your father gets home!" In a wellfunctioning family, the very presence of the father embodies authority, an authority conveyed
through his daily involvement in family life. This paternal authority is critical to the
prevention of psychopathology and delinquency.
The benefits a child receives from his relationship with his father are notably different from
those derived from his relationship with his mother. The father contributes a sense of paternal
authority and discipline which is conveyed through his involved presence. The additional
benefits of his affection and attachment add to this primary benefit. Albert Bandura, professor
of psychology at Stanford University, observed as early as 1959 that delinquents suffer from
an absence of the father's affection.
2. THE ABSENCE OF A MOTHER'S LOVE
According to Professor Rolf Loeber of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine:
"There is increasing evidence for an important critical period that occurs early in children's
lives. At that time, youngsters' attachment to adult caretakers is formed. This helps them to
learn pro-social skills and to unlearn any aggressive or acting out behaviours."
The early experience of intense maternal affection is the basis for the development of a
conscience and moral empathy with others.
If a child's emotional attachment to his mother is disrupted during the first few years,
permanent harm can be done to his capacity for emotional attachment to others. He will be
less able to trust others and throughout his life will stay more distant emotionally from others.
Having many different caretakers during the first few years can lead to a loss of this sense of
attachment for life and to antisocial behaviour. Separation from the mother, especially
between six months and three years of age, can lead to long lasting negative effects on
behaviour and emotional development. Severe maternal deprivation is a critical ingredient of
juvenile delinquency. As John Bowlby, the father of attachment research, puts it, "Theft, like
rheumatic fever, is a disease of childhood, and, as in rheumatic fever, attacks in later life are
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frequently in the nature of recurrences." A child's emotional attachment to his mother is

powerful in other ways. For example, even after a period of juvenile delinquency, a young
man's ability to become emotionally attached to his wife can make it possible for him to turn
away from crime. This capacity is rooted in the very early attachment to his mother. We also
know that a weak marital attachment resulting in separation or divorce accompanies a
continuing life of crime.
Many family conditions can weaken a mother's attachment to her young child. Perhaps the
mother herself is an emotionally unattached person. The mother could be so lacking in family
and emotional support that she cannot fill the emotional needs of the child. She could return
to work, or be forced to return to work, too soon after the birth of her child. Or, while she is at
work, there could be a change in the personnel responsible for the child's day care. The more
prevalent these conditions, the less likely a child will be securely attached to his mother and
the more likely he will be hostile and aggressive.
The mother's relationship with her children during this early period is also relevant to the
debate over child care. According to Professor James Q. Wilson of the University of
California at Los Angeles, the extended absence of a working mother from her child during
the early critical stages of the child's emotional development increases the risk of
delinquency. Specifically, say Stephen Cernkovich and Peggy Giordano, "maternal
employment affects behaviour indirectly, through such factors as lack of supervision, loss of
direct control, and attenuation of close relationships." Thus, forcing a young single mother to
return to work too soon after the birth of her baby is bad public policy.
3. PARENTAL FIGHTING AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
The empirical evidence shows that, for a growing child, the happiest and most tranquil family
situation is the intact primary marriage. But even within intact two-parent families, serious
parental conflict has bad effects. The famous studies of Harvard professors Sheldon and
Eleanor Glueck in the 1950s found that one-third of delinquent boys in their sample came
from homes with spouse abuse. The Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study observed that the
incidence of delinquent behaviour was higher in intact homes characterized by a high degree
of conflict and neglect than it was in broken homes without conflict. As this and other studies
have shown, the lack of emotional attachment to parents is more strongly related to
delinquency than is an intact home. The lesson is clear: conflict between parents hurts the
child. The more frequent or intense the conflict, the more the child is hurt emotionally. In
sharp contrast, tranquillity and peace in the family and in the marriage help prevent
delinquency.
family Breakup. Breakup of his parents' marriage during the first five years of his life places
a child at high risk of becoming a juvenile delinquent. This breakup -- through either divorce
or separation -- is most likely to occur three to four years after marriage. Therefore, a large
proportion of very young children experience the emotional pain of the early and final stages
of marital dissolution at a time when they are most vulnerable to disruptions in their
emotional attachment to their parents.
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Conflict within "step families" (families where at least one of the married parents is not the
biological parent of all the children) also has serious effects. It was observed in a study that-in
the two parent families examined in this study a great deal of conflict was present. Of these
parents, 71 percent fought regularly about the children. Since there were often 'his', 'hers' and
'theirs' present, the sources of conflict tended to result from one set of children having a bad
influence on the others, the type of punishment invoked, or one particular child receiving too
much attention."
Rates of conflict are much higher outside intact marriage families. Not surprisingly, the rates
of emotional and behavioural problems of children are more than double in step families.
Given their impact on children, the marriage arrangements of parents have significant effects
on the incidence of teenage crime.
4. LACK OF PARENTAL SUPERVISION AND DISCIPLINE
The absence of parental supervision and discipline often is due simply to a lack of parenting
skill, particularly if the parents were not supervised properly by their own parents.
Summarizing the findings of the Oregon Group, a team of social science researchers under
the leadership of Gerald R. Patterson of the Oregon Social Learning Center, Travis Hirschi of
the University of Arizona writes:
In order for the parent to teach the child not to use force or fraud, the parent must
monitor the child's behaviour;
recognize deviant behaviour when it occurs; and
punish such behaviour.
All that is required to activate the system is affection for or investment in the child. The
parent who cares for the child will watch his behaviour, see him doing things he should not
do, and correct him.
Summarizing the Oregon Group's work on parental skills, Professor Kevin Wright advises:
"Notice what the child is doing, monitor it over long periods of time, model social skill
behaviour, clearly state house rules, consistently provide some punishments for
transgressions, provide reinforcement for conformity, and negotiate disagreement so the
conflicts and crises do not escalate. Monitoring children involves awareness of their
companions, whereabouts, and free-time activities. It also includes appropriate
communication, accountability of the child to the parents and the amount of time spent with
parents." A host of other studies confirm that good supervision is at least as powerful as
parental emotional attachment to the child and other forms of indirect control. Monitoring
fills the child's need for parental attention, moral education, and correction.
The children of single teenage mothers are more at risk for later criminal behaviour. One
reason is that teenage single mothers monitor their children less than older married mothers
do. They are more inclined to have an inconsistent, explosively angry approach to
disciplining their children. In such homes family members, including children, generally use
aggressive, coercive methods to make sure their needs are met by others in the family. The
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parent's inability to monitor a child's behaviour compounds the hostility between parent and
child and leads to the first of the two major stages in delinquency described by the Oregon
Group:
The first stage is a breakdown in family management procedures, producing an increase in
antisocial behaviour and impairment in social skills and application at school. In the second
stage, during adolescence, these conditions continue and the disruptions in the parents'
monitoring practices and the adolescent's own poor social skills place him further at risk for
finding his community in a deviant peer group.
While parental monitoring and supervision obviously are good for children, harsh or
excessive discipline has just the opposite effect. The parents of delinquents are harsher than
ordinary parents in punishing their children; and depressed, stressed, or hostile parents more
likely will vent their anger on their more aggressive children. For these children, harsh
punishment can mean parental rejection. "Punishment that is too strict, frequent or severe can
lead to a greater probability of delinquency regardless of parental attachments. That is, a
strong parent-child bond will not lessen the adverse impact of punishment that is too harsh."
5. PARENTAL ABUSE OR NEGLECT
The professional literature is replete with findings of a connection between future
delinquency and criminal behaviour and the abuse and neglect visited upon children by their
parents. This abuse can be physical, emotional, or sexual. "Overwhelmingly," observes
Patricia Koski, "studies conducted since 1964 have found a positive correlation between
parent-child aggression-violence-abuse-physical punishment and aggression on the part of the
child." Or, as summarized by Cathy Spatz Widom, professor of Criminal Justice and
Psychology at Indiana University, Bloomington, "Violence begets violence."
Studies of the official records of abused children and arrested offenders put this connection in
the range of 14 percent to 26 percent. But the connection triples to a range of 50 percent to 70
percent once researchers go beyond official reports of investigated cases of child abuse to
reports of abuse by the delinquents themselves.
These abused young men develop a defensive world view characterized by a feeling of
vulnerability and a need to protect oneself, a belief that no one can be trusted, a need to
maintain social distance, a willingness to use violence and intimidation to repel others, an
attraction to similarly defensive people, and an expectation that no one will come to their aid.
Young women delinquents who run away from home are also frequently victims of sexual
abuse.
The close connection between child abuse and violent crime is highlighted also in a 1988
study of the 14 juveniles then condemned to death in the United States: 12 had been brutally
abused, and 5 had been sodomized by relatives.
Child sexual or physical abuse alone can outweigh many other factors in contributing to
violent crime but affects boys and girls differently. Abuse visited upon girls is more likely to
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result in depression (the inversion of anger) or psychiatric hospitalization than in the more
outwardly directed hostility of abused males.
6. CRIMINAL PARENTS
Patterns of crime are transmitted from generation to generation.
In a longitudinal study of 394 families in England, David P. Farrington, professor of
criminology at Cambridge University, found that approximately 4 percent of these families
accrued almost half of the convictions of the entire sample. "The fact that delinquency is
transmitted from one generation to the next is indisputable. Fewer than 5 percent of the
families accounted for almost half of the criminal convictions in the entire sample. In order
to achieve such concentration of crime in a small number of families, it is necessary that the
parents and the brothers and sisters of offenders also be unusually likely to commit criminal
acts."
The Gluecks determined that delinquents were more likely than non-delinquents to have
delinquent fathers and mothers. Subsequent studies supported the Gluecks' findings,
observing that delinquent boys were more likely to have delinquent or criminal parents. In a
study of the families of black delinquents in St. Louis, Robins found that a child's delinquent
behaviour was associated with 1) arrests of one or both of the parents in their adult years, and
2) a history of juvenile delinquency on the part of the parents. Children with two parents with
criminal histories were at extremely high risk of delinquency.
Girls involved in crime tend to mate with (if not marry) men with criminal records. Jill Leslie
Rosenbaum of California State University, describing young delinquent women in her study,
states: "The men in the wards' lives bore a striking resemblance to the men chosen by their
mothers. Many were significantly older than the girls and had criminal records."

ANALYSIS OF DATA
DATA IN SUPPORT OF BROKEN HOMES
Various data are available which establishes the higher number of crimes committed by
children coming out of broken homes. Bonger has mentioned a number of studies from
several countries. Of 1,209 juvenile criminals in English prisons between 1898 and 1899,
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17% were orphans. Among 507 criminals in Italy in the 1880s, 24% did not have a father in
the home up to their age of 16 years, 18% lacked a mother and 7% were orphans.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE DELINQUENCY
To observe the differential affect of broken homes on males and females, survey done by
Weeks found that for a sample 515 juveniles(420 boys and 96 girls) who had appeared before
the juvenile courts in Washington in 1937, broken homes appeared considerably more
frequent for delinquent boys(40%) than for a control group( 26%). Among the girls, this data
was 68%. Bonger also points out that the figures were higher among young women violators
of the law than among men. The difference cannot be attributed to different types of broken
homes but is connected with the type of offence.
The boys were chiefly prosecuted for property offences, traffic violations and
misdemeanours, and the girls for ungovernability, running away from home and sex offences.
If the type of offences are held constant, the difference between delinquent boys and girls
almost disappear.
DATA ANALYSIS IN INDIA
A similar study in India by the Manas,which provides counselling to boys and girls lodged at
various state-run observation homes for juveniles in conflict with law, shows that broken
homes are an important factor behind children turning to crime. Migration is also seen as a
factor that leads children to delinquent behavior. An assessment based on the profiles of 170
juvenile boys over the last six months found that almost 56% boys had disturbed family
backgrounds. Close scrutiny shows that, of this lot, 38% came from single parent families
and 16% were from broken families.
Their involvement in crime ranges from petty theft to heinous crimes like murder and rape.
While 87% were found to be first-time offenders, 13% had a history of delinquent behaviour.
DRUG ABUSE AS A CONSEQUENCE OF BROKEN HOME
The divorce of parents increases the likelihood that children will abuse alcohol and begin
using drugs. Children who use drugs and abuse alcohol are more likely to come from family
backgrounds characterized by parental conflict and parental rejection. Because divorce
increases these factors it is tightly linked to alcohol and drug abuse. Adolescents whose
parents have recently divorced abuse drugs and alcohol much more than adolescents whose
parents divorced during their early childhood. When they are compared with children whose
parents are still married, the difference grows even greater.
The profiling of 170 boys by the Foundation is based on the psycho-social assessment where
it comes through that 38% reported trying mind altering substances like ganja, smack and
correction fluid. About 22% boys reported occasional use and 16% were cases of substance
abuse.
EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF DELINQUENTS
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The effect of broken families is also shown in the educational levels of the delinquents. That
the boys hail from families with difficult circumstances and many end up as dropouts comes
through in data where 21% had never been to school, 69% had just managed to complete
primary education and barely 10% had gone up to high school and beyond.
However, in an earlier and much larger American study of juvenile misconduct and the
broken home, in which two national samples totalling 2,242 children were analysed, Rankin
found that broken homes correlated significantly only with three types of self-reported
juvenile misconduct: running away from home, truanting and fighting. Even in these cases,
however, it was difficult to state with any certainty whether such outcomes were directly
related to family structure. Indeed, Rankin concludes that 'the relationship between broken
homes and running away and truancy do not seem particularly strong' (Rankin 1983). Thus
the association of crime with broken family is not devoid of debates.

APPLICATION OF THE CONCEPT IN INDIA

In India, the concept of family and marriage is held to be one of the most crucial aspects of a
persons life. In the Hindu Shastras, disruption of the marital ties is not provided for. This
was, of late, an important safeguard against downfall of the family, although it took place in a
few cases. But the advent of the Britishers in India and their influence on the society as well
as the law led to an increasing acceptance of divorce in the Indian society as well as in the
legislation in the Family Laws.
This along with growing independence of woman has amounted to an increase in the number
of divorce as well as judicial separation in India. One of the surveys highlights the startling
reality that 83 per cent of the surveyees were separated due to cruelty or domestic violence in
their marital homes. The main reasons for cruelty/domestic violence were dowry/extra14 | P a g e

marital affairs/second marriage of their spouse and the suspicious nature of the spouse. Other
reasons cited were drug addiction, alcoholism of the male spouse, etc. Amongst the various
reasons for domestic violence and cruelty, the surveyees in all the caste categories reported
that dowry-related harassment remained a major cause of cruelty. But the positive aspect of
this number is that it is one of the safeguards against unfair practices of other spouse which
may have more harmful effects on children.
But the effects of such disruption, nevertheless affects the children, essentially in the
following ways:
Financial Considerations
Money or lack of it poses a problem in post-divorce households. About thirty-five
percent of the children of divorced parents live in poverty. Child support payments
and financial assistance when not paid put much pressure on the custodial parent. On
the other hand, wealth increases access to positive opportunities and decreases the
likelihood of negative traumas, such as transportation difficulties, serious illness
without adequate medical care.
Step Families or Foster Homes
Step-families often prove to be very complicated as children find it difficult to adjust
with the step-parent and the extended step-family. Even the foster homes are not able
to take care of the children as nicely as the original parent would have done.
Moreover, in some cases the foster family may be involved in harassment to such
children in the form of verbal, physical and sexual abuse. They may feel themselves
as burden over the foster families.
Child-care Centres, Juvenile Homes, Orphanages
These homes where a large number of children from disrupted families stay might be
a source of such persons to be associated with other persons of criminal background.
Moreover the lack of personal care and affection may put the children on criminal
path.
Future Life
Children learn how to relate to others by watching their parents relate to each other.
Divorce gives them an unconscious notion of not trusting their mates. Divorce also
significantly increases the chances of young people leaving their homes due to friction
with a parent, increases the chances of premarital cohabitation, and also the odds of
premarital pregnancies or fatherhood.
Thus it has been seen that disruptions in family leads to negative effect on children and may
arouse criminal tendencies among them.

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PROTECTION MEASURES SUGGESTED

Although the effect of broken homes on children cannot be diminished altogether but its
effects might be reduced by the following ways:
Legal Measures
Although a childs rights may be limited, they should not be ignored or eliminated since
children are, in fact, persons under the Constitution wherein all fundamental rights are
guaranteed to them. Article 39(f) of the Constitution lays down the responsibility on the State
to frame a policy securing the children. The provisions under Article 15(3) and Article 51A(k) also voice the rights of the child. To this effect, the following provisions are suggested:
1. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child the primary duty is placed on the
parents and then on the State. It is provided for the State parties to take all appropriate
measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination due
to the status of parents or family. This essentially means that a child of divorcees shall
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2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

not be discriminated against in educational institutions etc. The most relevant Article
which pertains to separated parents provides for the best interest of child to be taken
into consideration while deciding the residence of the child. Further, both parents are
sought to be responsible for the development of the child and for the necessary
assistance. Thus, the broad category of rights ensures the welfare of the child during
the parents divorce.
Leaving apart the archaic legislations on personal laws which govern child custody,
there is no special legislation to treat child rights on a larger platform and to accord
them special status and thus to treat these children as different from others. There are
special set of child rights that come to the fore during divorce proceedings which must
be looked into from a distinct point. These rights may include both parents to remain
jointly and severally liable for care and maintenance of the child; to establish a stable
home for the child close to the pre-divorce standard of living.
The reform by the way of a specialised legislation to focus on the child rights in case
of parental conflict is a proactive step towards looking into this special situation
demanding a specific articulation of child rights.
Further, the policy of mediation should be employed rather than the use of solicitors
because mediation is seen as a more effective way of reducing hostility and
encouraging cooperation. The difference simply lies in recognizing autonomous child
rights rather than just the rights to be protected.
The tendency of the courts towards granting of decree of divorce in only a limited
number of cases after due consideration of all the facts involved, especially the status
of children, is an important step towards development of child rights as well as
avoidance of their advent towards delinquency. Such steps should be encouraged.
Although a number of legislations have been passed but the majority of the welfare
schemes such as the Public Distribution System, employment, skill development and
legal aid service have not reached the juveniles and their families. It is recommended
that training and orientation on the psychology of children and the Juvenile Justice
Act and related procedures for lawyers and the police be provided for. The gram
panchayat and city corporations should maintain the database of children under the
jurisdiction in order to monitor their progress.

Social measures
Apart from the state machinery, active participation needs to be taken by the society in order
to help children from the broken families, its reasons being two-fold:
1. The effects of broken home on children are adverse which may come out in the form
of anti-social behaviour as well as criminal tendencies in the extreme cases. This
requires the society to take adequate measures to help such children to provide for
their and consequently ones own safety.
2. The other, indirect reason for such active step is that it is the moral duty of the society
to help its members in times of needs and to ensure that no one suffers because of lack
of participation on the societys part, it being commonly accepted that society, being
made up of a large number of people has a pool of resources- economic and social
which may easily be used for those in need.
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The steps that are required to be taken by the society involve the following:
1. The society should accept the children from broken homes into the society as it would
make it easier for them to find peers and assimilate with other institutions that may
provide for the social control that the broken homes lack.
2. The society should take pro-active steps in ensuring that the dysfunctional families do
not turn into broken home by taking appropriate steps. For example, the judiciary
cannot successfully compel the families to establish better relationships with their
children but the informal institutions like Panchayats, Social Mediators and
Counsellors can definitely do so.
3. The society should also take active measures to ensure that adequate institutions are
present, may be with the help of collected funds to create child-care homes, social
skills learning institutions, psychologists, counsellors etc. which may ensure that the
children of the broken homes do not resort to crime and delinquency.
4. Non-Governmental Organisations should be formed both for reducing the number of
broken homes as well as delinquents rising from such homes by creating awareness
among the people about the ill-effects of disrupted families and benefits of happy
families. Also campaigns, advertisements, free counselling sessions etc. should be
organized to such effect.
5. The society should be alert and observe the ill-treatments committed within the home
where it would be difficult for the victim of the broken and abusive families to report
the same to the concerned authorities. Although privacy is sought by each family but
when the relationships become abusive and harmful for certain members then it
becomes the duty of the society to intervene in order to stop such violence and unjust
treatment.
Thus it may be seen that due to the personal association of the society with the family
members, the number of broken homes as well as their bad effects can be curbed by
active participation in the society.

CONCLUSION
Thus we conclude from the project report that disrupted families or broken homes affect the
children adversely and lead to juvenile as well as adult crimes because of a number of reasons
which are also the reasons which show why the family is important in an individuals life.
A broken home can disrupt and confuse a child's world. This is true from infancy through the
teen years. No one wants to lose the secure feeling that a family provides. Children
experience a wide array of emotions to try to navigate. Parents have to provide as much
stability as possible and involve other responsible role models to provide support for their
child. It is important that the child knows that he is still safe, loved and cherished.
The parents need to consider the well-being of their children before they take any measure in
disrupting the social ties with the other spouse and if it becomes absolutely essential, then
special care needs to be taken by the guardian of the child to shield him from the
consequences from such break-down so that the emotional and psychological well-being of
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the child is not affected. This is also important on the ground that such feelings tend to
become violent which is depicted by ways of anti-social behaviour and in quite a few cases in
the form of crime and delinquency.
Although circumstances might lead a person to commit crimes but it is the moral, social and
foundation that a person receives that leads him to behave in a particular manner in the light
of given circumstances. So, a person from a healthy family may not commit crime in the
same circumstance in which the person from the broken home committed the crime.
Hence it is important to deal with this phenomenon of broken home, which has been
increasing at a steep rate, nowadays in order to decrease the rate of crimes being committed
as well as to ensure that children- who are the future of the nation be given the appropriate
care and nurturance that they deserve in order to bloom into well-natured and developed
citizens who help in the development of the nation and not add but help in reducing the
number of crimes being committed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://troublesofyouth.pbworks.com/f/Ruby+and+Farrington.pdf
http://books.google.co.in/books?
id=wqRQqXKuU7sC&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=broken+homes+criminology&so
urceiAfJsYHAAg&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=broken%20homes
%20criminology&f=false
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/800639?
uid=3738256&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102631287493

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