Jan Martin M.

Justo
III-Bookkeeping

“The Adversities hidden behind Juvenile Delinquency”

A famous philosopher once said, “The young are permanently in a state resembling

intoxication”. This was quoted by Aristotle who believed that we are in a condition wherein we may

be influenced by others to be involved into illegal behavior or major offenses which would result to

criminal activities and violations in the society. Juvenile Delinquency is one of the biggest problems

our country is facing today. It involves crimes such as assault, homicide, rape, robbery/theft,

vandalism, drug abuse and addiction, arson, possession of fire arms, liquor or alcoholic consumption,

cigarette smoking, gambling, and a lot more. This situation is very alarming since more and more

youths are exposed to these unlawful acts which are increasing rapidly throughout the years. Here in

the Philippines, crimes involving minors rose by 18 percent in 2008, with most offenders committing

theft according to the Philippine National Police. Criminals are often associated to gruesome adults

but in this case, minors are the ones who are considered more capable of doing chaos and destruction

in the society which is a disturbing matter that the government has to take seriously. Often associated

with gangs, they actually provide inconvenient way of living in the community. Gangs would do

illicit acts that would make their group famous. An example of it is the ‘gang wars’ or a riot, usually

done late at night, wherein two or more groups will fight each other to see who’s the superior gang.

They throw rocks or bottles at their rivals; while some use deadly weapons like knives and ice picks

for the sake of hurting. These riots surely disturb the whole neighborhood in which the fight is

occurring. It is even more dangerous for civilian people who just happened to be around at that place.

Not just in riots these juvenile delinquents are known for.

 Most of them had actually committed crimes that an adult would do. Maybe you are

wondering how these juveniles are living their lives. How hard is it to be a juvenile delinquent? Does

their future matters them? What are their parents doing? Why are they engaging in this situation?

Only these juveniles know it for sure but it is the responsibility of every parent to protect their

children and to teach them values to instill into them the importance of propriety and the law.

There are over 9,000 juveniles detained in adult prisons in the Philippines in 2002. According

to UNICEF, an average of 10, 500 minors are being arrested and detained every year – about 28

children every day, or more than one child every hour. A report on 2003 stated that seven children

were in Death Row, and 200 children are in the Medium Security Unit of the National Bilibid Prisons.

It is a sad fact juveniles are arrested for using or pushing drugs which then breeds to other forms of

crimes such as rape, murder, and homicide. It is even more alarming to know that poverty has driven

most of the minors detained to commit crime. These criminals are under 21 years of age, and many of

them are under 18. In a recent study about teenagers, 2 out of 3 teens engage in premarital sex which

may lead to unwanted pregnancies and obtaining STD’s. Because of this, abortion rates also increases

and more and more teens are becoming susceptible to early parenthood. According to NSO and orc-

macro's national health and demographic survey (2003), 6.1% of the 2,648 surveyed females aged 15-

19 are already mothers, 1.8% are currently pregnant with the first offspring, and 8.0% have just

started the course of childbearing. We might say that this issue is not bigger than the economic crisis

we are experiencing right now, but to think that these delinquents are just disoriented youths, it’s

actually unfair. A youth, for the sake of being a part of something that could protect him will join a

gang and throw chaos to the society that rejects him; a youth, who just wants to prove something will
be a rebel to his family; a youth, who just wants to escape his miserable life will do foolish crimes; an

innocent youth yet dangerous; a naive youth yet matured; a youth supposed to study at school,

expected to be the next leader, an asset turned liability of our society… it is unfair. This calls for the

help of the whole society to be in charge for the guidance of these future generations. A range of

community based schemes for the diversion of children away from committing crimes can be

conducted. This includes community care, guidance, counseling foster care and training, social

activities, and community development. These are just few of the possible ways of helping the

juveniles. Simple but effective!

Youth must also know their responsibilities as citizens of the country. This is where education

takes place. Education aids the youth in developing all the aspects in their lives and with proper

education, they will be more likely to be productive members of the society. Poverty, which is

considered to be the root of all problems and issues in the country, may not be eradicated easily. I can

say that, when there is poverty, there would still be juvenile delinquents prowling all over the city.

The least we can do is to lessen their increasing population by, of course, implementing those

schemes.

A juvenile jailed for 4 months said that “If we were treated well and cared for by our parents,

we would not have become like this. Some tell us to stop stealing but what can we do? We are poor,

we cannot stop what we are doing but when I grow up I will change.” Many of the youth of the

Philippines is influenced by the American lifestyle, including TV and internet. One man downloads

porn on his cell phone. Then his daughter watches it and wonders “what is that?” One of the worst

things to happen to families here in Philippines is the employment of their parents abroad.
 The children are left alone to raise themselves. Children need both parents in their life. An

articulate young Filipino named Thommy sits in a jail in Cebu City mixed in with the general adult

population. Thommy gives his reasons as to why he became a thief. He is released, but finds himself

back in jail along with his uncle a few months later. Sadly, Thommy died at the age of 13 in 2005. He

died of a heart attack because of Shabu or Sniffing glue. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer,

youth crimes are on the rise in Cebu. Cebu ranks among the top five areas in juvenile crime cases in

the country second only to Manila and topping Central Visayas. The growing absence of parental

supervision and unsupervised television viewing is being blamed for the increase. Last February 10,

2009, Social Welfare Undersecretary Alicia Bala said that community service, rather than jail, was

more effective in holding minors accountable for their mistakes. We treat them as adults in conflict

with the law. If a child commits a crime, we always think the child should be punished. If we put

them in jail, we are making them the new adult criminals of tomorrow. Detention should be our last

option, Bala told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, after attending a conference in Camp Crame. On

August 12, 2011, Sun Star- Iloilo reported that Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog will personally lead a

campaign against the rise of juvenile crimes noted lately. Witnesses claimed seeing a minor casing the

establishment of the crime scene before it was discovered to be ransacked. Police reported the

proliferation of serious crimes in this city involving minors used by crime syndicates for prostitution,

vandalism, robberies and drug trafficking. Mabilog said that he wrote to Representative Jerry P.

Treñas (Iloilo City Representative) to review the existing law on juvenile delinquency, and possibly

sponsor a new law to lower down criminalities, involving age 12 to 18 years old.
 According to the Child and Youth Welfare Code of the Philippines, Article 189, A child nine

years of age or under at the time of the offense shall be exempt from criminal liability and shall be

committed to the care of his or her father or mother, or nearest relative or family friend in the

discretion of the court and subject to its supervision. The same shall be done for a child nine years

and under fifteen years of age at the time of the commission of the offense, unless he acted with

discernment. We have these written laws in the government but apparently, most of these are not

followed and they are often neglected. In other words, they are useless because a law only becomes a

real law if it is executed or abided by all of the people as much as possible. These laws are worthless

if it is ignored and not done by the people. We should remember that rules are made for us to apply

them in the society and not just know them and take them for granted.

In the recently held World Youth Day in Madrid, hundreds of thousands of youth from

almost every country including the Philippines had gathered together to unite one another

through the Catholic faith regardless of religious convictions yet there are also a large number of

youths that are in jail today due to violations created in the laws of our society. In a study, teen

users of Facebook and Myspace are more likely to drink and use drugs. Faraz Akram, 18, says

Facebook could be a source of peer pressure when it comes to teen drinking or drug use. The

National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York found

that teens who spend time on the social networks are likely to see images of their peers drinking

or using drugs — images that could help to convince them that substance abuse is a normal,

acceptable activity. The survey also found that about half of those who use social media have seen

online pictures of teens getting drunk or high or passed out. Many saw the images before age 14.

Michael DeGrace, 17, a senior at York High School in Elmhurst, said he regularly sees Facebook

posts about drinking and partying. And it's not just images, he added: Status updates that say

things like, "I can't remember what happened last night" get the message across as clearly as any
photograph.

He said that sort of content could influence teens, especially younger ones.

“It does take a village to raise a child”. Juvenile Delinquents are misled youths whom has

made wrong choices in their lives which was influenced by the society itself, and the only way to

reverse it is to raise these youths and model them into better persons. There is juvenile delinquency

because there is adult delinquency. This happens all over the world. When will it stop? Would this

affect their lives in the future? How would they manage to live meaningful lives if their own families

and peers tend to accompany them into the wrong path? It would all depend on their decisions. Life

is all about making choices. We have to make a choice and we have to own our choice. In every

decision that we would make, we should make sure that these are the right ones since our life is

shaped by what we are doing and thinking. Being a juvenile delinquent is hard since you must learn

to choose wisely for yourself and a person who stands with his decisions is more likely to have a life

full of contentment and happiness.