Children and Crime: A Closer Look

Screengrab from BusinessMirror’s Issuu account.

CHEERS TO BusinessMirror for a series of reports that looked into the plight of children in conflict with the law in the context of new proposals in Congress to lower the age of criminal liability, from the present 15 to nine years old.

The first part of the report (“Kids in conflict with the law and lowering of criminal liability”) tackled the conditions of detained children.  It also discussed House Bill 002 filed by Representatives Pantaleon Alvarez and Fredenil Castro which seeks to lower the age of criminal liability. The report also reviewed past attempts by other representatives from previous congresses to pass a similar bill.

The second part (“Children on the run: A closer look at child crime”) discussed the situation of crime committed by minors. Not only is the number of children committing crimes increasing — more children are also involved in even graver crimes such as rape and murder. It also asked whether this problem will be solved by lowering the age of criminal liability.

The last part (“Children on the run: The need to overhaul the whole system”) examined rehabilitation and reintegration efforts for offending minors, emphasizing the need for restorative justice. The scarcity of rehabilitation centers in the country, according to the report, as well as the involvement of the members of the Philippine National Police in the illegal drug trade, puts child offenders at risk of further abuse and even exploitation. Thus, lowering the age of criminal responsibility without fixing the flaws of the current juvenile justice system would only aggravate the problem.

The BusinessMirror article shows that the problem of juvenile crimes is deeply rooted in the social ills of the country — among them increasing poverty and the decline of  health and education services — that require solutions more complex and nuanced than simply lowering the age of criminal responsibility.