Notes For Classmates
Notes For Classmates
Instead of using the word “juvenile”, Philippine laws made use of the word “child”. As defined in R.A.
No. 9344, “Child” is a person under the age of eighteen (18) years. While “Child at Risk” refers to a child
who is vulnerable to and at the risk of committing criminal offences because of personal, family and social
circumstances. Some of the examples mentioned in the law are: being abandoned or neglected, and living
in a community with a high level of criminality or drug abuse.
“Child in Conflict with the Law” or CICL on the other hand refers to a child who is alleged as, accused
of, or adjudged as, having committed an offence under Philippine laws.
MOTIVATION TEST
FACTORS OF JUVENILE
Villanueva (2006) declares the four factors that contribute on juvenile delinquency. These four
factors are:
1. Family. The first and most basic institution in the society where the child learns to curb his
desires and to accept rules that define the time, place and circumstance. Child’s personal
needs are satisfied in a socially acceptable manner in the family. However, the child tends to
become delinquent as influence by his/her own family due to (1) faulty development of the
child, (2) lack of parental guidance/monitoring, (3) lack of maternal affection, (4) unfair
treatment, and (5) parental rejection and broken home.
2. Environment. This is where the child is influenced after his/her first highly formative years.
His/her friends in the community may influence him/her to become delinquent. Eventually,
he/she becomes victim of his/her own environment, attitude, dress, tastes, ambitions, and
even behavior which have been already influenced by those anti-social acts recognized in
their environment. Some of the causes are, (1) associations with criminal groups, (2)
alcoholism and drug addiction, (3) crime inducing situation that causes criminalistics
tendencies, and (4) imitated instinct like selfishness, violence and anti-social wishes.
3. School. Unlike the family, the school is the public instrument for training young people.
Therefore, schools are more directly accessible to change the youth through the development
of new resources and policies. Schools are the principal institutions for developing young
people to the goals and values of society. The failure of the school in character development
of the children is one of the instances that the school will contribute to juvenile delinquency.
In addition, the use of methods that create the conditions of failure or frustrations on the part
of the students, truancy and lack of facilities for curricular and extra-curricular activities are
also some of the instances that caused juvenile delinquency.
4. Other departments or agencies of the government. They also create factors that influence
the youth to become delinquent, such as: (1) political interference of the higher positions, (2)
unfair decisions of the court, (3) police carelessness and unfair treatment, (4) influence from
the newspapers, movies, t.v, radio, comic, and other magazines.
The prevention of juvenile delinquency is an essential part of crime prevention in society. Guevara
and Bautista (2008) quoted that, “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”, this clearly
manifests the importance of misbehavior deterrence among the youth.
2. Republic Act 10630 “An Act Establishing a Comprehensive Juvenile Justice and Welfare System,
Creating the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council under the Department of Social Welfare and
Development, Appropriating Funds Therefore, and for Other Purposes."
CURRENT ISSUE
The House Bill No. 6052, titled "An Act Strengthening the Juvenile Justice System in the Philippines,"
was approved in the House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress. Referring to "youthful
offenders" and "children in conflict with the law," the bill seeks to lower the age of criminal responsibility
from 15 to 12 years of age, provided that criminal responsibility attaches only when the minor "acted with
discernment."
REACTIONS
We in the Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP) are against this amendment and take
the stand that the minimum age of criminal responsibility should NOT be lowered from 15 to 12
years old. We call for the strengthening of the juvenile justice system through the strict
implementation of existing laws that prosecute adults who coerce children to engage in criminal
behavior and protect and rehabilitate children in conflict with the law (CICL) through restorative
means.