Introduction An ambivalence towards young people in trouble is not a new phenomenon in relation to justice for children. Crime constitutes the intentional commission of an act usually deemed socially harmful or dangerous and specifically defined, prohibited, and punishable under criminal law, and children have always posed conceptual and philosophical problems for criminal law by virtue of their age and status of dependency on adults. In this article, the two principal Parlimentary enactments of 1986 and 2000, which have defined the juvenile justice system in India, have been exhaustively dealt with. This is supplemented with a discussion about the concept of juvenile delinquency and the legislative and judicial trends that have been noticed so far with respect of juvenile justice in India. Juvenile Delinquency : The Concept Any act prohibited by law for children up to a prescribed age limit is juvenile delinque ....