Child offender : a criminal or a victim /
Elizabeth G. Bringas.
- 46 leaves
Public Management and Development Program.
Reality check shows the increasing child crimes in the country despite the passage and strengthening of the Juvenile Justice Act. RA 9344 became effective in 2006 and strengthened in 2013, but the youth crime rates continue to soar. The crimes mostly committed have been consistently against property. There is a continuous debate that the minimum age of criminal responsibility is the problem but when the MACR was nine years old before the advent of RA 9344, child crimes was and remained a problem. The same dilemma was experiences even with the increase of the MACR to fifteen years old. This paper gives alternative solutions including the status quo for policy considerations in the hope that a better and more effective solution will be ultimately crafted to solve the problem of juvenile delinquency. These solutions include: Status quo: 15 years old as minimum age of responsibility Lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 9 years of age Enactment of parental responsibility statutes Enhancement of anti-Poverty programs catering to the youth Exploration of incentive programs for the law-abiding youth and parents The preferred solution is the third policy consideration bu the fourth and fifth will be complementary. Setting the minimum age of criminal responsibility is not enough. There should be corresponding responsibility imposed on the parents or guardian. In fact, the problem of juvenile delinquency should not be the State's problem alone but also by the family and community. There is no need to amend the existing minimum age of criminal responsibility. The key to solving juvenile delinquency is to strengthen the implementation of the existing law and to come up with other solutions or enactments to complement the law. The parental responsibility statute and the incentive policy consideration are ideal supplements. Children are always in need of special treatment considering their vulnerability to the harsh elements of the society. Laws and rules may be beautifully crafted to protect and guide these children but the task of looking out for them is not solely the burden of the State. The same way that we cannot claim that the parents of the guardians have the monumental obligation to put their children in line. There are many factors affecting children's behaviors and the tack to make sure these children grow up to be law-abiding is a shared responsibility of the State, the family, the school and the community. The anti-poverty solution is, of course, a given in all the solutions proposed especially that most of the crimes committed by children are crimes against property like theft and robbery. This reality tells us that it is not as simple as meting out punishments to those children committing crimes. To solve juvenile delinquency is to go to the root of the problem which is poverty. Incentives will also be a good way to encourage adherence to set laws and rules. Giving incentives to parents and children who are not state problems is a good message tool that attention is not just focused on meting out punishments to the wrongdoers but rewards are also given to those who make efforts to abide by the laws.