UNIVERSITY OF CAGAYAN VALLEY

Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, Philippines

I. NATURE OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

JUVENILE
 Is a person who has not reached adulthood or the age of majority (usually 18y/o)
 A boy who has not attained the age of 16yrs or a girl who has not attained the
age of 18yrs
 In legal terms, a juvenile is a person to juvenile court proceedings because a
statutorily defined event or condition caused by or affecting that person was
alleged to have occurred while his or her age was below the statutorily specified
age limit or original description of a juvenile court.

JUVENILES are generally regarded as immature or ones whose mental and emotional
faculties are not fully developed, thus making them in capable of taking full responsibility
of their actions. Because of their age standing they are held to a standard of behavior that
is different from that for adults. They are required to attend school between the ages of 6
and 18; they are expected to obey their parents; they are forbidden to purchase alcohol or
cigarettes or drive motor vehicles; they may not marry without parental permission; they
cannot enter to business or financial contracts; and they are not permitted to vote, enter the
military or run away far from home. Some jurisdictions place other restrictions on
juveniles, such as curfew, or laws against “incorrigible” or “immoral” behavior. On the
contrary, adults have the right to vote, to marry, to hold government office, and to enter
into contracts.

DELINQUENT PERSON
From the viewpoint of a social worker, a delinquent is a person, of whatever age, whose
attitude toward other individuals, toward the community, toward lawful authority is
such that it may lead him into breaking the law.
 A delinquent person is one who repeatedly commits an act that is against the
norms or mores observed by the society.
 When a person habitually commits an act that is not in accordance with the rules
or policies of a community where he belongs, he is considered a delinquent.
Juvenile Delinquents maybe grouped in three ways:

1. Children aging below 7 years old

HISTORY OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

1. Code of Hammurabi – Oldest known code for thousand years ago dating
from 2270 B.C. discussed runaways, children who disowned their parents
and sons who cursed their father are severely being punished.
2. Roman Law and Canon (Church) law – Approximately two thousand years
ago, made distinction between juveniles and adults based on the notion “age
of responsibility”
3. Ancient Jewish Law – The Talmud specified condition under which
immaturity was to be considered in imposing punishment. There was no
corporal punishment prior to puberty, which was considered to be the age of
twelve for females and thirteen for males. No capital punishment is to be
imposed on those offenders under twenty years of age. Similar leniency was
found among Moslems, where children under the age of seventeen were
typically exempt from the death penalty.
4. Codification of Roman Law – In 5th century B.C., this law resulted in the
“Twelve Tables”, which made it clear that children were criminally
responsible for violation of law and were to be dealt with by same criminal
justice system as adults. Children came to be classified as “infans,”
“proximus infantiae.” In general. “infans” were not held criminally
responsible, but those approaching puberty who knew the difference between
right and wrong were held accountable.
For much of Roman history, “infantia” meant the inability to speak, but in
the fifth century A.D. this age is fixed at seven years and children under that
age were exempt from criminal liability. The legal age of puberty was fixed
at fourteen for boys and twelve for girls: youth above these ages were held
criminally liable. For children between the ages seven and puberty, liability
was on their capacity to understand the difference between right and wrong.
5. Anglo Saxon Common Law (Law based on custom or usage) - The
distinction made between adult and juvenile offenders in England at this time
are most significant. Under common law, children under the age of seven
were presumed incapable of forming criminal intent and therefore were not
subject to criminal sanctions. Children between seven and fourteen were not
subject to criminal sanctions unless it could be demonstrated that they had
formed criminal intent, understood the consequences of their actions, and
 could distinguish right from wrong (Blackstone 1803, 22-24). Children over
fourteen were treated much the same as adults.
6. Chancery or equity courts – Created by the king of England, under the
guidance of King’s chancellor. Chancery courts were created to consider
petitions of those who needed special aid or intervention, such as woman and
children who needed protection and aid because of divorce, the death of a
spouse, or abandonment, and to grant relief to such persons. Through the
chancery courts, the king exercise the right of parens patria (parents of the
country) by enabling these courts to act in loco parentis (in the place of
parents) to provide necessary services for the benefit of women and children.
In other words, the king, as ruler of his country, was to assume responsibility
for all those under his rule, to provide parental care for children who had no
parents, and to assist women who required aid for any of the reasons
mentioned above. Although chancery courts did not normally deal with
youthful offenders, they did deal with dependent or neglected youth as do
juvenile courts in the Unites States today. The principle of parens patriae
later became central to development of juvenile court in America.
7. Law of King Aethelstan (924-939 A.D) – Old English law provided penalties
for children. Any thief over 12 years old received a punishment of death if
he stole more than 12 pence, (later the amount was reduced to 8 pence).
However, with the passage of time the law was eased for children, and no
one under sis teen years could be put to death unless he resisted or run away.
8. Statute of Artificers (1562) – Stated that children of paupers could be
involuntarily separated from their parents and apprenticed to others.
9. Poor Law Act of 1601 – Provided for involuntary separation of children from
their impoverished parents, and these children were then placed in bondage
to local residents as apprentices.
Statute of Artificers and Poor Law Act of 1601 were placed in bondage to
local residents as apprentices.

PERSONALITIES

1. Pope Clement XI – In 1704 in Rome, established the Hospital of St. Michael’s, the
first institution for the treatment of juvenile offenders. The stated purpose of the
hospital was to correct and instruct unruly youth so they might become useful citizens.

2. Robert Young – In 1788 established the first private, separate institution for youthful
offenders in England. The goal of the institution was to educate and instruct in some
useful trade or occupation the children of convicts or such other infant poor as engaged
in a vagrant and criminal course of life.
3. Albert K. Cohen – The first man who attempted to find out the process of beginning
of the delinquent subculture.

4. Kingwood Reformatory – This was established for the confinement of the “hordes of
unruly children who infested the streets of new industrial towns” of England.

New York Committee on Pauperism – In 1818, the committee gave the term
“Juvenile Delinquency” Its first public recognition by referring it as a major cause of
pauperism.

1899 – The first Juvenile or “family” court was established in Cook County Illinois.

1899 – 1967 – This has been referred to as the era of “socialized juvenile justice”.