Is Delinquency a Choice or a Condition? Physical and Digital Manipulation in ‘No Guns at My Son’s Funeral’ and ‘Little Brother

Abstract

This study argues that juvenile delinquency is not the result of individual choice but an outcome shapedby coercion, constraint and systemic erosion.The analysis extends Agnew's General Strain Theory by introducing manipulation as a structurally organised mechanism of strain enacted through both physical coercion and digital surveillance and control.Through comparative narrative and socio-legal analysis,this research examines how manipulation operates across two novels: Paro Anand's No Guns at My Son's Funeral (2005) and Cory Doctorow's Little Brother (2008). The former depicts manipulation through physical coercionwithin a conflict-affected environment, while the latter depicts manipulation through digital surveillance and algorithmic control within a securitised urban environment. Despite these differing modalities, the analysis reveals that manipulation simultaneously activates all three of Agnew's strain sources in both settings.

The study situates these findings within global and Indian legal frameworks, including each of which reorients juvenile justice from a punitive response toward preventative, child-centred reform. The study proposes the 3R Model: Recognition, Rehabilitation and Reintegration, conceptualising juvenile delinquency as a structured psychological process produced by systemic manipulation, whether physical or digital, rather than individual moral failure.