No To Lowering Age.doc

We appeal to the Philippine Congress to withdraw this proposed law that will treat children as young as 12 years old as adult criminals.

The Philippines already has a separate justice system for children, through the Juvenile Justice Law of 2006, that must be fully and effectively implemented. Lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) is a shortsighted solution that will mostly affect the children of the poor.

The MACR is the lowest age by which a person can be charged in court and jailed.

We must not ignore scientific evidence that shows that criminalizing children does not solve the problem of children committing crimes; it only encourages re-offending. The change we want to see most is the stronger implementation of the Juvenile Justice Law.

Here are 5 more reasons why the MACR should NOT be lowered:

1. Children are not little adults.

Scientific research shows that “children and adolescents differ significantly from adults in decisionmaking, propensity to engage in risky behavior, impulse control, identity development, and overall maturity.” (Psychological Association of the Philippines, 2016)

Hence, a child should not be held to the same standards as adults. Too young to vote, get married, and have a driver's license but not too young to be charged for a crime and be held in jails?

2. It will not result in lower crime rates.

According to the Philippine National Police, children commit only 1.72% of total crimes in the Philippines. Most are petty crimes like theft, which is often linked to poverty.

3. Lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility will not stop syndicates from using children.

It will encourage syndicates to use children younger than 12 years old.

4. The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 does not need to be amended. It needs to be fully implemented.

The law already provides guidelines on how children who commit crimes should be handled. Contrary to popular belief, children who commit serious offenses are held accountable. But instead of receiving harsh punishments, the child is placed in a youth care facility or Bahay Pag-Asa to undergo intensive intervention programs supervised by a multi-disciplinary team.

5. Jail is no place for a child.

Due to lack of youth care facilities, children will most likely end up in jails where they may be subjected to violence and abuse. Detention should be the last resort, not the first and only option.

Do we criminalize and punish children just because we have failed our duty or responsibility to fully implement the law?

Even the Department of Social Welfare and Development has recently released a statement saying:

"A lower age of criminal responsibility results in more children being detained, substantially higher cost of public expenditure, and an even higher social cost of re-offending and graver offending, which simply demonstrates that such measure is not cost-effective.”

We encourage the Philippine Congress and our duty-bearers in the government to:

1. Punish the crime syndicates who take advantage of children, not the children who need to be rescued, supported, and rehabilitated.

2. Push for the full and effective implementation of the law so that both children who commit crimes and their victims are assisted and supported.

3. Instead of lowering the MACR, support local government units in providing prevention, intervention, and diversion programs for children.

Should kids as young as 9 be held accountable for their actions? Here are five reasons why the age of criminal responsibility should not be lowered from 15 to 9 years old All parents will agree that children should be raised in a disciplined environment where they are taught how to be accountable for their actions. But many parents believe that this doesn’t mean they are to be judged based on adult standards.

Several legislators, however, disagree. There is currently a bill proposing that the minimum age of criminal responsibility be lowered from 15 to 9 years old.

If approved, it will amend the existing Republic Act 9344 or Juvenile Delinquency Act of 2006. According to a Rappler report, the congressmen pushing the said bill believe that the current age of criminal liability is guilty of “pampering… youth offenders who commit crimes knowing they can get away with it. Worse, adult criminals – individually and/or in organized cabal – knowingly and purposely make use of youth below 15 years old to commit crimes, such as drug trafficking, aware that they cannot be held criminally liable.”

“A child nine (9) years of age and above but below eighteen (18) years of age shall likewise be exempt from criminal liability and subjected to an intervention program unless he/she is determined to have acted with discernment, in which case he/she shall be subjected to appropriate proceedings in accordance with this Act. The exemption from criminal liability herein established does not include exemption from civil liability, which shall be enforced in accordance with existing laws.”

Lowering the age of criminal responsibility would give children more contact with the criminal justice system and only increase the risk of recidivism.

This was the reminder Marta Santos Pais of the United Nations to leaders of Philippine Congress. Pais is the special-representative of the UN secretary general on violence against children.

The House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Judicial Reforms is drafting a bill to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 15 years old to nine years old. This has raised opposition from child rights protection groups and advocates who maintain that focus should be given instead on a crackdown on syndicates and parents using children in crimes.

The bill would amened the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, which set the age of criminal responsibility at 15 years old.

Last January, Pais expressed her concern over the move to lower that age in letters she sent to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

“One of the key lessons from criminological research is that early induction into the youth justice system does not lower the risk of offending,” Pais said. “Rather, contact with the criminal justice system at an early age means that young people will be more likely to offend for a longer period, more frequently and go on to offend when they become adults.”

She added: “Research also shows that lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility and other punitive criminal justice responses to youth offenders has other negative consequences.” Pais cited the exposure to criminal networks in detention facilities, as well as to high risk of stigmatization as criminals, violence, and neglect among such consequences.

“The latest research in neuroscience is also particularly noteworthy as it shows that the human brain is not fully developed in its capacity for cognitive functioning and emotional regulation until well into the period of young adulthood,” she said. “In fact, the capacity to distinguish between what is right and wrong continues to develop throughout adolescence,”

Pais suggested diversion and other noncustodial alternatives to reduce recidivism among youth offenders.

Such programs, she noted, had benefitted young offenders who showed fewer tendencies towards violence. They were also, she pointed out, less costly than incarceration.

“The personal price paid by children who become involved with the justice system is high,” he said. “But so too are the costs incurred by society…Indirect costs, such as a child abandoned to a life of crime, may be more difficult to measure as this has long-term ripple effects on the social fabric of communities.”

The UN’s child rights envoy further said: “The strong legal provisions introduced in 2006 on juvenile justice and the age of criminal responsibility constitute a sound basis to build upon and need to be preserved. I am confident you will express strong support to this ethical, normative and evidence-based approach.”

According to Unicef’s Philippine representative, Lotta Sylwander, punishing and jailing children involved in crime would only condemn and damage them for life.

Sylwander said: “The underlying and structural factors that bring about child abuse, exploitation and violence must be addressed first. We need to invest in the full implementation of the Juvenile Justice Law, which is a much commended law. Then there should be support for parenting programmes to deter at-risk children from committing crimes.” For Dr. Liane Alampay of the Psychological Association of the Philippines: “Adolescents below age 15 tend to act on their emotions, including fear, hunger, peer pressure, threats and desperation, which is why they are pressured to commit crimes by adults, like syndicates or even their parents.”

UN Child Rights Envoy urges government not to lower age of criminal responsibility 16 MANILA, 27 March 2017 – The United Nations had sent a letter to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez Jr, urging both leaders of Congress not to lower the minimum age

of criminal responsibility as this move would only further expose children to violence in prison facilities and instead lead to further re-offending.

In a letter sent last January, Marta Santos-Pais, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children (VAC), urged Speaker Alvarez and Senator Pimentel to focus on improving the implementation of the country’s Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (JJWA, or Republic Act 9344 of 2006, as amended in 2013). She also cited the JJWA as the basis to advance the implementation of the commitments made in the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of VAC in 2015.

“Research shows that lowering the age of criminal responsibility and punitive criminal justice to youth offences has negative consequences; including risks of being used in criminal activities at increasingly younger ages, compromising completion of education and access to opportunities for vocational skills, and stigmatizing them as criminals and exposing them to further violence, neglect and social exclusion,” Ms Santos-Pais said.

The House of Representatives’ Sub-Committee on Judicial Reforms under the Committee on Justice is drafting a bill to lower the MACR from 15 to nine. Child rights NGOs and advocates, along with some members of the House and Senate and the government’s Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council, oppose the move; saying law enforcement should focus on cracking down on syndicates and parents who exploit children to commit crimes.

UNICEF Philippines Lotta Sylwander said: “Why penalize children who are themselves victims and do not have the maturity to discern right from wrong? In any case the percentage of children involved in crime is less than 2 percent, punishing and incarcerating children is not going to have any impact on crime reduction. This will only condemn and damage the children for life instead of giving them a chance to reform.”

“The underlying and structural factors that bring about child abuse, exploitation and violence must be addressed first. We need to invest in the full implementation of the Juvenile Justice Law, which is a much commended law. Then there should be support for parenting programmes to deter at-risk children from committing crimes.”

The UN envoy cited research in neuroscience that shows “the human brain is not fully developed in its capacity for cognitive functioning and emotional control until well into the period of young adulthood.

When we expose children to toxic stress or violent environments – such as in prisons – this will have irreversible damages to their brain architecture and create high long-term financial costs for families and the government.”

This was echoed by Dr. Liane Alampay of the Ateneo de Manila Psychology Department and of the Psychological Association of the Philippines. Dr Alampay noted that here is a difference between children’s knowledge of right and wrong; and in acting in accordance with that knowledge and of what the consequences of their actions would be. “Adolescents below age 15 tend to act on their emotions – including fear, hunger, peer pressure, threats and desperation – which is why they are pressured to commit crimes by adults, like syndicates or even their parents.”