REINTEGRATING IN THE SOCIETY: JUVENILE COMMUNITY REHABILITATION CENTRE

Abstract

Pakistan faced persistent inconsistency regarding children rights act since it ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1990. To ensure security of juveniles' rights, a juvenile justice act 2018 had been passed that focused on the rehabilitative process of the juveniles who commit crime under the age of 18 but are not imprisoned rather they should be given growth opportunities in isolation to be reintegrated into the society. But unfortunately, with the gap between the law, its implication and no provision of infrastructure, the system continued to face challenges of crowded prisons, no segregation between adult prisons and juvenile rehab facility and shortages of financial and man resources which caused difficulty to tackle the upcoming juvenile justice issue. In the overall country, maximumjuvenile delinquents' cases are present in Punjab according to 2019 report though only two facilities are provided located in Faisalabad and Bahawalpur. A model rehabilitative microcosmic community within a social controlled environment needs to be designed by redefining the space of isolation and providing reintegrating healing architecture for juvenile's physical and psychological growth. According to which, it will be strategically located in north Punjab region on the proposed site in Faisalabad which has greater number of reported juvenile cases in Punjab. The complex will explore alternate practices to provide correction, care and development opportunities for the juveniles by understanding their behaviour patterns and creating correlation between space and its psychological impact. This would lead to character building of the juvenile by improving emotional well being, induce skills and responsibilities to reintegrate into the society and serve as good citizens.