Reducing the age of criminal liability

Crime has mutated from its old, predictable forms to shocking types, with state-of-the-art technology involved. Gone are the days when criminals were deviant adults motivated by hatred, greed, envy, lust or unfortunate circumstances. Today’s criminal elements now include youngsters who break the law because of intense poverty, lack of proper parental guidance, substance abuse or involvement in organized crime.

Juvenile offenders, also known as “children in trouble with the law,” pose a complicated problem for legislators, law enforcers, courts of law, prison administrators and social workers.

Although all criminal offenders must answer for their crimes, the law recognizes that juvenile offenders may not be held responsible for their criminal acts on account of their youth, that segment in their lives when they may not be truly aware of the consequences and repercussions of their acts. Being so, it is unfair to impose on juvenile offenders the exacting standards imposed by law on mature offenders.

There are instances, however, when a youthful offender acted with discernment when the crime was committed, i.e., he was aware that what he was doing is against the law. In those instances, the law allows the imposition of a penalty, lesser in degree to those applicable to adult offenders, on the juvenile offender concerned.

The penalties can range from civic work or confinement in an institution devoted to reforming erring children.

All that, of course, is easier said than done, because ascertaining if a youthful offender acted with or without discernment in committing a crime is very difficult to do. The problem is worsened by juvenile offenders who pretend not to have acted with discernment even if they did.

Prior to its amendment in 2006, the Revised Penal Code set the minimum age of criminal responsibility at nine years. That was reduced in 2006 to 15 years.

Congress now plans to reduce the minimum age from the current 15 years to 12 or 13 years. President Rodrigo wants it at 9 years on account of the rampant drug abuse among very young Filipino teenagers and pre-teenagers.

One reason advanced in support of the move to reduce the age of criminal liability is that developments in information technology make children think with discernment even before they reach age 15.

Many of the motion pictures and television programs today or of relatively recent vintage tend to glorify criminals or to treat crime as an ordinary phenomenon in daily life. Examples are The Godfather, Catch Me If You Can and The Sopranos. Many on line games encourage violence.

Juvenile exposure to these films, programs and cyber applications tends to make children think of crime as part of everyday life, or even as a glamorous profession. Eventually, many are enticed to commit unlawful acts.

Another reason is that syndicates now employ children in their criminal activities because children cannot be charged criminally if they are caught by law enforcers.

A third reason is the reduction of parental guidance, especially in lower income families. For example, children whose father or mother has to work abroad gets less parental guidance than other kids.

Still another reason is poverty. Children from poor families are often enticed by their own parents to commit petty crimes. Some parents even allow their children to be used by syndicates.

Rampant drug use among youngsters below 15 years is a grim reality today, due mainly to the failure of the past two administrations to address the problem of drug abuse in the country. Children hooked on drugs are vulnerable to exploitation by criminal syndicates and may even pursue a life of crime just to sustain their drug habit.

Reducing the age of criminal liability to 9 or to 12 or 13 years may not be the ideal solution to the problem of juvenile criminality, but it will certainly force children with discernment to rethink their criminal plans; compel parents to reconsider allowing their children to commit crimes, and discourage criminal syndicates from using the youth in their criminal pursuits.

It may actually be the first step in the right direction in the fight against increasing juvenile delinquency in the country.