21/01/2019
From the post of Dir. Cha Satumba, DOLE-ILS:
By: Atty. Patty Arroyo, child rights advocate
Are you a mother, father, uncle, aunt, sister, brother, lolo, or lola of children 9 to 15 years old?
Congress is rushing to pass a bill to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 9 years old. The current law sets it at 15 years old and 1 day.
Here are the little known consequences of lowering to 9:
1. Your child's misbehavior will become a misdemeanor.
hurts someone during rough play = physical injuries
takes someone else's things without permission = theft
says something bad about another kid = slander
breaks another kid's gadget = malicious mischief
hurts someone by accident = reckless imprudence
And the list goes on.
2. Your child may be arrested on the spot even without a warrant of arrest if your child has just committed, is actually committing, or is attempting to commit a "crime".
3. Your child may be detained in a detention cell, possibly with adult detention prisoners, if there is no child-caring institution in your locality.
4. If there is “probable cause” (i.e., it looks like your kid committed the crime), a criminal case will be filed against your child, and your child will have to go to court for trial or “diversion" (an alternative way of finding guilt), which may take years to resolve.
5. If you're lucky, the case may end up with a child-friendly court - i.e., there’s a stuffed toy in the waiting room, some crayons and coloring books, the judge will not put on the black robe, and your kid can testify in front of a video camera from the judge's chambers right beside the court room.
6. If your child is convicted, he or she will not be imprisoned but will remain in the custody of a child-caring institution until the court is satisfied that your child has reformed.
7. After having gone through all of the above, a process which has the potential to destroy the soul and spirit of a full grown adult, your child will be released back to you.
Do we really want to subject our children to this?
“His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.”
― William Golding, Lord of the Flies
THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE WILL MEET ON MONDAY, JANUARY 21, TO FINALIZE THE BILL SEEKING TO LOWER THE AGE OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY, WHICH IT CONSIDERS A PRIORITY. LET THEM KNOW YOU OPPOSE.
