Juveniles Should Not Be Tried and Treated As An Adult

Juveniles should not be tried and treated as an adult in facing charges against them.
This
action would violate the Republic Act No. 9344, also known as Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act
of 2006. This Act specifically establishes a juvenile court which is tasked to delegate and handle
juvenile offenders based on their youth rather than their crimes. The purpose of this court is to
treat and guide children at risk, and children in conflict rather than punishment to ensure their
physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being is protected and promoted to
inculcate patriotism and nationalism, and encourage their involvement in public and civic affairs
(Section 2(a), Chapter 1, Title I of RA 9344).
The Revised Penal Code of the Philippines is based on the adopted features from the
Spanish Penal Code which follows two theories: Classical Theory and Positivist Theory.
According to the Classical Theory, the basic principle in our criminal law is that a person is
criminally liable for felony committed by him in his own free will. Man is essentially a moral
creature with an absolute free will to choose between good and evil. When a person commits a
felony or a criminal act the act is presumed to have been done intentionally and voluntarily.
Thus, if a juvenile has done a felonious act, he or she has done it freely, intelligently, and
intentionally, and they must be adjudged or held accountable for his or her wrongful act so long
as free will appears unimpaired.
Adolescent offenders are referred to as juveniles because they are still considered as
minors and have not stepped on the legal age to consume alcohol, and get married, also, their
morality and sense of responsibility are still developing. As thus, they are treated differently
from adults because adults are believed to be of sound mind. According to Kohlberg, an
important aspect in the cognitive development that occur in adolescence concerns the teenager's
understanding of "right" and "wrong." Kohlberg proposed three levels of moral development, or
the knowledge of right and wrong behavior. Although these stages are associated with certain
age-groups, adolescents and adults can be found at all three levels, and juvenile delinquent tends
to be preconventional in the moral thinking. The earliest stages of moral development,
obedience, and punishment, are especially common in young children, but adults are also capable
of expressing this type of reasoning. The development of personality and social relationships in
adolescence primarily concerns the search for a consistent sense of self or personal identity.
Erickson believed that in the adolescent years, teenagers tend to exhibit lack of trust in others,
feelings of guilt and shame, low self-esteem, and dependency on others. Peer pressure is quite
effective on teenagers who desperately want to fit in. Sometimes, juveniles commit crimes out of
ignorance or peer pressure. That is why teenagers, sometimes, are not believed to be capable of
making sound decisions.
For a child to stand trial as an adult, the child in conflict must have the capacity to
comprehend his position, and understand the nature and object of the proceedings against him.
However, a child in conflict may not understand and comprehend the significance of the trial and
his relation to it which may violate his right to a fair trial and due process. The accuracy of the
proceedings may not be assured, and the fairness of the proceedings may be questioned. Section
2(d), Chapter 1, Title 1 of RA 9344, provides that "the State recognizes the right of every child
alleged as, accused of, adjudged, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in
a manner consistent with the promotion of the child's sense of dignity and worth, taking into
account the child's age and desirability of promoting his/her reintegration. Whenever appropriate
and desirable, the State shall adopt measures for dealing with such children without resorting to
judicial proceedings, providing that human rights and legal safeguards are fully respected. It
shall ensure that children are dealt with in a manner appropriate to their well-being by providing
for, among others, a variety of disposition measures such as care, guidance and supervision
orders, counseling, probation, foster care, education and vocational training programs and other
alternatives to institutional care." This Act provides a better moral development to a child in
conflict and prepare them to reintegrate as a new person in the society.
Positivist Theory states that the basis for criminal liability is the sum-total of the social
and economic phenomena to which the offense is expressed. Philippine penal law looks at the
convict as a member of society. The State is concerned not only in the imperative necessity of
protecting the social organization against the criminal acts of destructive individuals but also in
redeeming the individual for economic usefulness and other social ends. The purpose of penalties
is to secure justice. The penalties imposed must not only be retributive but must also be
reformative, to give the convict an opportunity to live a new life and rejoin society as a
productive and civic-spirited member of the community (Joya v. Jail Warden of Batangas, G.R,
No. 159418-19, December 10, 2003). That is why the Juvenile Justice and Welfare System is
needed so that when a Child in Conflict with the Law is in a Youth Rehabilitation facility which
provides them with interventions, approaches and strategies that will enable them to improve
their social functioning with the end goal of reintegration to their families and as productive
members of their communities.
If we treat and tried a child in conflict with the law as an adult, then juvenile justice and
welfare system is no longer needed, thus, they would be detained in adult jails. Incarceration fails
to meet the developmental and criminogenic needs of youth offenders and is limited in its ability
to provide appropriate rehabilitation. As of now in the Philippines, prison condition does not
permit an optimal environment where a child in conflict's physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual,
and social well-being can be protected by the State, which is the primary objective of the
Juvenile Justice and Welfare System. The overpopulation of today's prison would not promote a
proper physical well-being of the child. Overcrowded prisons around the world create difficult
and widespread challenges to maintaining prisoner health and providing a safe environment.
Overcrowded prisons can lead to insanitary, violent conditions that are harmful to the physical
and mental well-being of prisoners (UNODC, 2013). Overcrowded prisons can be compared to a
massive petri dish wherein different diseases are being cultured. Children would be vulnerable to
different types of diseases. Paired with poor health care system, this will cause an increase
chance of mortality. The problem with juvenile delinquents being sent to adult prison is that they
are being lumped together with hardened criminals in which they are influenced and exposed to
criminal elements, making the child in conflict vulnerable to harassment, drugs, and furthering
their knowledge to different types crime, thus, turning jails into schools of criminality. The
criminal justice system provides inadequate rehabilitation and mostly punishes criminal behavior
of youth which is a complete opposite to what the juvenile justice system promotes. Even if there
are rehabilitation activities, educational and vocational programs in adult prison, this does not
change the fact that juvenile delinquents are exposed to experienced criminals. This would not
promote mental stability and instead would cause a lot of stress leading to a more criminal mind
set.
In the Philippines, we focus on individual who is blamed for the felonious act committed
and their punishment, but we tend to neglect the purpose of the correctional system which is to
impose proper sanctions for the individual to learn and rehabilitate inside the correctional
facility. If the State does not separate the trials and detention of juvenile delinquents from adult
criminals, crime rate of the Philippines will surely increase, because they will be learning from
the experiences of the adults inside the prison. Therefore, Juvenile Justice System is important so
that children are far from institutionalization, and are rehabilitated as early as possible and
integrated back to society. When we are dealing with children in conflict with the law, we are
dealing with children who had a bad start in life with circumstances and experiences very
difficult to accept. Thus, the solution to the problem of controlling juvenile delinquency is not
incarceration but good education and vocational training thus emphasizing prevention and
rehabilitation.

Juveniles Should Not Be Tried and Treated As An Adult

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Juveniles Should Not Be Tried and Treated As An Adult

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Juveniles Should Not Be Tried and Treated As An Adult

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Juveniles should not be tried and treated as an adult in facing charges against them.

You might also like