Interactive Workshop on "Adolescence"
Adolescence is a British television psychological crime drama series created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham and directed by Philip Barantini. It was released on the streaming platform Netflix in 2025. It centres on a 13-year-old schoolboy, Jamie Miller, who is arrested after the murder of a girl in his school. The series is a haunting, tender portrayal of teenage trauma, social media toxicity, and the unsettling ways in which law confronts children. It questions what justice means for children in conflict with the law, and how institutions respond to harm, or fail to.
To explore these questions further, the Legal Services Clinic organised an Interactive Workshop on the film in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment Chair on Juvenile Justice and the Student Initiative for Promotion of Legal Awareness on May 14, 2025. The workshop was conducted by Dr. Kalpana Purushothaman, a renowned child psychologist, activist, and former member of the Juvenile Justice Board, and was open to all members of the NLS community.
The Workshop began with the screening of a few scenes from the series 'Adolescence', including student responses to the scenes and their observations regarding the juvenile justice system showcased in the UK, as compared to India. It then moved to Dr. Kalpana Purushothaman addressing issues like the impact of social media on adolescents, the deplorable state of juvenile justice systems in India and it potential improvements, and reflections on the psychology of adolescents. An interactive Question-and-Answer session with the speaker provided all attendees to discuss topics the role of institutions in efficient juvenile justice systems and role of families in the mental well-being of adolescents.
