Deprived Innocence: Youth Delinquency and the Restorative Factor of R.A. 9344

Abstract

The lowering of criminal liability of minors is a big issue that the Philippine society faces in the modern world. The upper and the lower house of Congress have their version of amending Republic Act 9344 known as the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act of 2006, primarily on Sect. 6 regarding the age of criminal liability of minors. The amendment envisages reducing the age of criminal liability from 15 to 9 years old because of the empirical observation and deduction that those involved in crimes are adults and even teenagers and children alike. The solution, therefore, of Congress is to brand children and youth in conflict with the law (CYCL) as criminals so that proper judicial measures and process could be implemented and so that the involvement of children and youth in crimes could be lessened if not prevented. One out of the many reasons in amending the law is that children and youth in conflict with the law, in the existing juvenile justice welfare act, could escape the penal system of judicial measures. This, in effect, could be used by syndicates in promoting their aberrant intentions and acts. In other words, children and teenagers could be used in criminal endeavors. Nevertheless, one might ask, will the plan of Congress help provide a solution to the problem? Alternatively, the plan is just to cover the real problem by blaming CYCL. Will it safeguard the interest of those criminally involved children and youth or the interest of those adults to take advantage of these poor’s innocence? Using the phenomenological lenses, this study attempts to understand the problem behind this pressing issue of our time by unfolding the richness of the term youth concerning Erik Erikson and Carl Rogers’ psychosocial concepts. Likewise, to lay down the reasons behind the creation of the Republic Act 9344 and the steps it has to address the problem on society to vis-à-vis the children and the youth. Finding a solution to the problem involving CYCL is not an individual exertion on the part of the government; it is an endeavor of every sector in the Philippines. Therefore, this study tries to look at the position and call of the Church in this phenomenon in Philippine history. In the end, may this study be a wakeup for thinkers, patriots, dreamers, positivists, social, and political scientists for further discussions and debates with a vision of helping the young who is the very future of the dearest Pearl of the Orient.