Background of the Study

Jail is no place for a child. Over 50,000 children in the Philippines have been

arrested and detained since 1995. Roughly 28 children get arrested every day. 8 out of

10 children in conflict with the law will commit only one offense in their lifetime. They

are called first-time offenders. A first-time offender who is kept out of jails is 8 more

times more likely to change and become productive than a detained juvenile offender.

Children in the Philippines can be arrested and detained like adults from the age of nine

years old. (UNICEF Philippines, 2016)

More than half of the crimes for which minors are charged are not serious

offenses. These include petty theft, sniffing of glue or solvents, vagrancy and violation

of curfew hours. Many cases involving children are not reviewed immediately. Most are

eventually dismissed by the courts due to out of court settlements or the failure of

witnesses to appear during the trial. Many children experience detention in sub-

standard conditions for long periods of time before their cases are finally resolved

(UNICEF Philippines, 2016).

Crimes committed across the country have gone up by almost 50 percent in the

first half of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. In particular, the increase was

seen in cases of theft, car theft, and physical injuries, data from the Philippine National

Police showed. The total crime volume for the first half of this year was at 885,445,

including all index and non-index crimes. This was a 46.81 percent increase from 2014s

603,085 figure. Meanwhile, index crimes such as crimes against persons and property
went up by 37.30 percent, as there were 352,321 cases recorded for the first half of

this year, compared to last years 256,592 (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2016).

Young people in the streets are also criminalized and stigmatized for no obvious

crime committed. So many times the streets were cleaned upat the start of the tourist

season and as a consequence many street children were jailed because of vagrancy laws

(Murdoch-Verwijs in Laserna, 2010).

Formally, a Child in Conflict with the Law (CICL) is a person who at the time of

the commission of the offense is below eighteen years old but not less than 15 years

and one day old. The concept of right and wrong among youth offenders is vague or

erroneous; leading to their low self-control. In the long run, their values become

distorted, allowing them to commit crimes without feeling guilty (Blanco, 2011).

The Republic Act No. 9344 also known as the Juvenile Justice and

Welfare Act of 2006 of the Philippines was being implemented last July 25,

2005. The author of this law is Senator Francis Kiko Pangilinan, and it was

approved by the congress, senate and the former President Gloria

Macapagal-Arroyo during her term. Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006

shall cover the different stages involving children at risk and children in

conflict with the law from prevention to rehabilitation and reintegration.

Thus, this law battled a lot of controversies from the people and government

officials because of the negative impact to the society in terms of criminal

rate (Besing, 2012).

 RA No. 9344 also known as Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 prohibits

the detention of children in jails. It likewise raised the age of criminal responsibility from

nine under Presidential decree 603 to a minimum of 15 years old. RA 9344 also

exempted CICLS aged 15 and above from criminal liability unless the prosecution

proved that they acted with discernment or the capacity to determine what is right and

wrong (Castillo in Casiano, et. al., 2016).

A main feature of R.A. No. 9344 is that CICIL are required to undergo a

diversion program which refers to an alternative, child-appropriate process of

determining the responsibility and treatment of a child in conflict with the law on the

basis of his/her social, cultural, economic, psychological or educational

background without resorting to formal court proceedings, in addition to intervention

programs refer to a series of activities designed to address issues that caused the

child to commit an offense and which may take the form of counseling, skills training,

education, and other activities that will enhance his/her psychological, emotional and

psycho-social well-being (Laserna, 2008).

The rehabilitative model focuses on the treatment of the offender with the

assumption that interventions such as probation supervision, work readiness, training,

cognitive skills training, and behavior therapy will change behavior and reduce the

frequency of juvenile offenses (Bradshaw & Roseborough, 2005).

RA 9344 is not only for the benefit of children. The safety of society is its

foremost interest. That is why it prioritizes rehabilitation and not imprisonment (Oco,

2016).
 Children are the ones who are very vital for deciding how the world is gonna be

after some years. So if one can do some good in the life of a child then there can be

change, at least a slightest change, in the world to come. And if most of them think on

same lines then we can hope of a better future ahead (Sanaulla, 2008).

Investing financial resources to help children survive and develop to their full

potential is, first and foremost, a moral imperative. But investing in children is also

important on practical grounds. It yields positive benefits to economies and societies.

Since the foundation of an individuals health and well-being is laid in early childhood,

the most opportune time to break the cycle of poverty, or prevent it from beginning, is

during that time. Programmes that invest in early childhood development could

generate considerable cost savings for government. Investments in children are

increasingly seen as one of best and most valuable long-term investments we can make

(UNICEF, 2016).

As the number of young people in the Philippines increase, the need to

tap the youths active participation in the nations growth and development

has never been more urgent (Ayala Foundation, 2013).

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. The state has the obligation according to articles 4 of the United Nations

Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect all children and to translate all rights in

the Convention into reality (Murdoch-Verwijs in Laserna, 2010).