IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 21, Issue 5, Ver. 3 (May. 2016) PP 69-77 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/0837-2105036977 www.iosrjournals.org 69 | Page Children in Conflict with Law: An Anthropological Study among the Deported Children in Three Homes in West Bengal Arpita Nath 1 Dr. Sumahan Bandyopadhyay 2 1.Research Scholar 2.Department of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University; Midnapur- 721102; West Bengal Abstract: The children who are deported in connection with some offence are looked at rather leniently as a category different from the general offenders or criminals. The terminology for underage offenders has also reflected this view of the society that takes a softer stand on them. The present term Children in Conflict with Law (CCL) is another pointer to this understanding of the society. This understanding of the society can be disputed or substantiated on the basis of the nature of wide range of variation of offences committed by the children. This variation is quite manifest with regard to age, gender and place of the origin of the offenders, and place of commitment of the offence. In the present paper, study has been conducted on the CCL deported in three Homes established by the government for them. The paper argues that CCL cannot be treated as a homogenous category as we find a wide variation between elderly children and younger children with regard to the nature of offence. The finding also points to the theoretical implication that Ferdinand Tonnies characterization of society suggests. Thus the paper tries to understand the relation between the social organization and breach of law by the children. Key words: Conflict, Law, Home, Deported Children,CCL,Ferdinand Tonnies, Social organization. I. INTRODUCTION Involvement of children in breach of law has been drawing our attention for their increasing visibility in the recent years. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century United States, boys and girls were most often charged with crimes far different from those they are charged with in the early twenty-first century (Brown, 1998). In Indian context looking at the children who have been charged with some offences has also undergone changes. To distinguish the child offender, he or she was called delinquent as the idea was that the child has a naivety. The term delinquent of late appears to be too harsh. Now the underage offenders are brought under a term Children in Conflict with Law. Such terminology indicates that the crime is seen basically a social product. The children who are booked under any of such condition, the idea is that the child has done it without fully understanding its implications. We can espy here the existence of somethi ng like ‗understanding of child‘ or child mentality which is different from that of the adult ones. Now the point is whether this is a homogeneous type of mental set up? If so, the nature of breach of law would tend to show little variation across the ages. In the present paper the study has been done on the inmates of the Children homes where they are deported for some conflict with law. The study has been conducted with regard to the nature of conflict, age, gender and place of occurrence. The home districts of the inmates have also been taken into consideration. It is seen that there are considerable difference with regard to all the above criteria. These findings lead us to probe the factors that influence the nature of conflict. The study argues that the children in conflict with law do no constitute a homogeneous category so far as their nature of conflict is concerned and therefore need differential management of the conflict- situations. Children and Breach of Law : Overview of studies Le(2002) in his review writes that culture is an important factor in the explanation of crime. It also explains the varying crime rates evidenced by different ethnic and racial groups. Hawkins(1993) says that culture is more important than economy(poverty) as a factor of crime. Hayner (1938) long back shows that low rate of criminality among the Japanese youth compared to Chinese and Philippino can be attributed to the moral discipline, whereas weaker family life, weaker ties to community organization and disorganizing contact with Americans can be explained as causes for higher crime rates among the Chinese and Philipino. Conflict of cultural values is reported to be more frequent among immigrant groups( Hun-Kin,1998; Waters,1999; Kang,1999). The immigrant groups experience new way of life in a new social milieu, which may be a source of strain. Kang(1999) identified a number of factors behind this stress including learning new languages and values, finding new employment and relationship , learning new social skills etc. Le(2002) tried to locate the issues of delinquency around the themes like acculturation and cultural conflict, peer and family relations, socialization, psychological elements, integration failure, ecology and social structure, immigration process , resilency and protection. Of these issues , the present study more emphatically points to the integration.