The Child In The Criminal Justice System.docx

The Child in the Criminal Justice System Paul Christopher G. Pineda Philippine Christian University

April 2, 2019

The Child in the Criminal Justice System Multitude number of children worldwide suffers from violence1. In certain studies, it is quoted that children placed in the juvenile justice system particularly those deprived of their liberty are vulnerable to violence2. According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Funds (UNICEF) it is estimated that more than one million children are presently deprived of their liberty worldwide3. The controversy pertaining to juveniles in criminal justice system does not particular refer to the number of children who committed a crime but it is more centered as to whether should or should not a child be subjected to the application of criminal laws. Internationally, countries have adopted their own juvenile justice system, defining the criminal age of responsibility wherein a child can be prosecuted or not. Varying opinions have been raised as to what is the right age to be set as a standard to determine if criminal laws apply or not. Asian countries like Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and formerly the Philippines have set a lower age of criminal responsibility4. In these Asian countries a child can be prosecuted or is not exempt in criminal prosecution if they are aged as young as seven years old. However, Philippines through legislative enactment raised the age of criminal responsibility from nine (9) to fifteen (15) years of age5. This is almost the same as the United States Juvenile Criminal system where majority of the States’ standard is as young as fifteen to seventeen years of age. Other states have their own legislations how to deal with child offender while others exempt children aged seventeen (17) regardless of the crime committed6. To widen the understanding of the current situation of treating young generations in the child welfare and justice system at present, it is essential to know the past to serve as a frame of

1

Children in the justice system need protection. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2012/January/children-in-the-justice-system-need-protection.html 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Editorial, S. (2019). How young can you be locked up in Southeast Asia?. Retrieved from http://seaglobe.com/southeast-asias-minimum-age-of-criminal-responsibility/ 5 Ibid 6 Ibid

reference for present-day dialogue and understanding7. Knowing the past is not only to have a sense of history but to have a critical perspective of how juvenile justice system are treated and how it impacts the thinking and opinions of the issues at present8. Despite the good intentions for the care and control of child offenders, the systems that have been conceived have struggled to address their own needs. Because of different intervening factors these concepts and systems have evolved through the years9. In the medieval times, the concept of children is a blur and children are considered as miniature adults10. Even in other western countries like the United States the concept of childhood is primarily absent. This kind of thinking was present up until the twentieth century. Until this era, no formal, unified system for handling delinquent behavior, as such children and youth are tried and confined as adults11. Nevertheless, juveniles were increasingly seen as less culpable for their behaviors as well as more amenable to rehabilitative intervention. With these new concepts, ideas spread about creating a separate justice system, away from adults, that would focus on treatment and not punishment, and on the needs of the offender rather than the offending behavior12. Currently, in the Philippines there is a clamor to lower down the age of criminal responsibility from fifteen (15) years old to twelve (12) years old where a house bill already passed its second reading. But how do we really know if that is the right standard to set? Was it based on scientific findings or was it a whimsical concoction of the legislative’s creative minds? It must be noted that majority of the laws and jurisprudence in the country are product of well researched studies that are based on empirical or factual data. This has been seen in the decisions of the Supreme Court through the decades.

7

Kolivoski, K. M. (2012). Patterns of justice system involvement among child welfare-involved youth (Order No. 3535607). See page 25. Available from ProQuest Central. (1272368434). Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1272368434?accountid=34574 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Id., page 26. 11 Id., page 26. 12 Ibid.

If we are to based it on scientific findings and as pointed out by Dr. Joshua Kleifeld, the executive functions of children and adolescences are different from adults. The term "executive functions" refers to a variety of loosely related mental processes and behaviors that develop gradually to enable self-regulation, problem-solving, and goal-oriented actions over increasingly longer spans of time13. These higher-order cognitive capacities are evident in activities such as decision making, planning, and social conduct. Executive functions interact with the more fundamental brain processes such as arousal, visual perception, long-term memory and linguistic functions14. There is considerable evidence that executive functions reside primarily in the prefrontal region, which has dense reciprocal connections with other cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar region15. Executive functioning is slow to fully develop. It emerges in late infancy, goes through marked changes during the ages of 2 through 6, and does not peak until around age 25. Adolescents’ limited executive functions are out of sync with their emerging freedom, sense of autonomy, intense emotions and sexual drive, failing to equip them with the reins needed to for appropriate restraint and good judgment during this time of temptation16. Based on these studies it can be assumed that lowering the age of criminal responsibility and putting children in a criminal justice system is a way of abusing the children. In ascertaining whether a child is criminally liable thorough studies on the concept and the system must be done to create a framework that will be compromise with the factual data, rights of the children, the rights of the victims and the governments right to exercise its police power.

13

Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135-168. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750 14 Miller, K. J., M.D. (2005). Executive functions. Pediatric Annals, 34(4), 310-7. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/217555327?accountid=34574 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid.