India, June 10 -- In Kingsway Camp in north Delhi, over 100 minors are currently packed into a nondescript facility designed to house just 60 children in conflict with the law (CCLs). Every few days, police vans back up to its entrance, dropping off more boys - many of them accused of serious, sometimes violent crimes. With no place else to send them, the home simply swells beyond capacity.

Overcrowding has become routine at homes housing undertrial juvenile boys across the Capital, and officials say it mirrors a sharp and sustained spike in juvenile crime. Data from the Women and Child Development (WCD) department shows that Delhi has eight homes for children in conflict with the law. Of those, five have the combined capacity to house a...