The juvenile justice policy in India emphasizes a rehabilitative and reformatory approach towards youth offenders. In practice, however, these ideals coexist with punitive interventions. Existing scholarship traces the system's evolution from a welfare-oriented model to a rights-based framework, followed by a punitive turn. This paper argues instead that reformation and retribution have coexisted in everyday practice. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with the members of the juvenile justice board, the authors explore paradoxes of treatment that emerge as judicial service providers adjudicate cases pertaining to youth offenders in Uttar Pradesh, India. Findings reveal that institutionalization, separation from family, and other coercive practices are often framed as rehabilitative, highlighting how care and control are mutually constituted in everyday juvenile justice practice. By focusing on the operationalization of reformation and punishment, this research challenges the assumption that rehabilitation and punishment are distinct and offers new insights into the limits of reform in India.
Munshi et al. (Wed,) studied this question.