REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter primarily presents the different researches and literatures from both foreign
and local researches, which have significant bearings on the data and variables included in the
research. The study is generally focusing on the possible amendments to the age provided in RA
9344 by analyzing the factors affecting the delinquent acts of these minors. The literatures of this
study was gathered from books, journals, theses, dissertations, articles and electronic materials
such as PDF or E-book which are believed that would be a great and useful advancement and
progress of the study.

Foreign Literature and Studies

According to the UNICEF, an alarming number of children around the world who are
convicted for various crimes are usually deprived of their needs and rights and held in detention
without sufficient care. Various researches and surveys, national in scope, have established
trends in the profile of juveniles (AKAPAHRC 1998). According to existing studies, CICL are
usually males between the ages of 14 and 17 who have low educational attainment, mostly
reaching only the elementary level. They are usually middle or in-between children in very large
low-income families.
Juvenile delinquency has become an increasing concern to society; aggressive
behaviors are particularly harmful. This study examined parent and youth behaviors and
personality types that may influence delinquent and aggressive behaviors. Youths were referred
by the court to an intervention program; ratings of delinquency and aggression were derived
from parent reports, self-report, and court referral data. Results showed that high parent ratings
of youth aggressiveness were related to high turmoil in the home and to youths' positive opinions
of delinquent peers, while high aggressiveness of the youths' referring offenses was related to lax
punishment. Developmentally, this suggests that in adolescence both the peer group and home
influences are important inshaping different aspects of the youths' aggressive and delinquent
behaviours (Erdwin, et al., 2002).
Hossain (2011) claims that juvenile delinquency is almost an outcome of rapid
urbanization and industrialization and has almost become a universal problem in most of the
industrialized countries. No single cause or simple explanation for the development of delinquent
behavior but there are different causes of delinquency namely: family aspect of delinquency,
physical and biological factor. An online article entitled Juvenile Delinquency (2009) exposes
that “ A youth, for the sake of being a part of something that could protect him will join a gang
and throw chaos to the society that reject him; a youth, who just wants to prove something will
be a rebel to his family; a youth, who just wants to escape from his miserable life will do foolish
crimes; and innocent youth yet dangerous; a naïve youth yet mature; a youth supposed to study at
school, expected to be the next leader, an asset turned liability of our society”. According to
Green (2005), the social-science evidence points strongly to the influence of parents as the chief
underlying cause of juvenile crime. A recent survey found that criminal parents are much more
likely to raise criminal offspring; 43% of prisoners had family members who had been convicted
and 35% had a family member who had been in jail. The harsh and abusive rearing of the child
also contributes to the development of violent behavior. Maltreated children tend to commit
more crime in adulthood compared to non-maltreated children (Honkatukia & Kivivuori, 2006).
The motion picture industry began depicting delinquent youth in the1930s, and the practice
continues to the present day. Since the 1950s, youth between the ages of 12 and 20 have
comprised about 40% of all admissions to American movie theaters (Squire, 1983). Further, the
proliferation of videocassette recorders has increased the ability of adolescents to view
motion pictures. A large youth audience exists for movies dealing with adolescent themes, such
as juvenile delinquency. Given the high incidence of juvenile delinquency and conduct disorder
in the United States (Lewis, 1991), it is logical to conclude that a large number of delinquent
youth are viewing contemporary films, especially those dealing with topics relevant to them.
Ngale (2009) emphasizes that “monitoring becomes increasingly important as children
move into adolescence and spend less time under the direct supervision of parents or other adults
and more time with peer.” Smith, Tolan, Loeber & Henry (1998) find that parental conflict and
paternal aggressiveness predicted violent offending, whereas, lack of maternal affection and
paternal criminality predicted involvement in property crimes. In addition Ngale (2009) says that
“juvenile delinquent acts are the direct consequences of their family’s economic
disempowerment, permissive parenting style, and parent’s heavy job-time overload”. Moreover,
Ngale (2009) reveals that in the absence of moral, psychological and financial viability at home,
the children are forced to seek to “survive” beyond the family context. Juvenile delinquency in
this case is an escape from a family system which is neither empowered nor empowering.
Local Literature and Studies
Juvenile delinquency refers to the anti-social act or behavior which is against the norm,
culture, customs and regulations of the society and is committed by the youths (Guevara and
Bautista, 2008).
Presidential Degree no. 603 otherwise known as the Child and Youth Welfare Code was
signed into law on December 10, 1974 and became effective six months after its approval. This
code mentions in Chapter 3, articles 189-204, the care and treatment of youthful offenders from
the time of apprehension up to the termination of the case.
Before Marcos time the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts provided unique form of
adjudication to youthful offenders and disposal of family cases. It was effective in administering
justice, because the methods were not adversarial, but it was oriented to rehabilitation. It viewed
the minor as a victim not as an aggressor. It undertook the reformation of the youth with the
purpose of integration of him or her into mainstream society. However, on January 17, 1980 the
Judiciary Reorganization Act or Batasang Pambansa 129 abolished the Juvenile and Domestic
Relations Courts. Section 23 of that law authorized the Supreme Court to designate certain
branches of the Regional and Municipal Courts to act exclusively on juvenile and domestic
creations cases.
Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (R.A. 9344, Sec.4, 2006) stated “child/youth refers to
any person under the age of eighteen (18)”. This act deals with children at risk and children in
conflict with the law. This provides child-appropriate proceeding, including programs and
services for prevention, diversion, rehabilitation, reintegration and aftercare to ensure their
normal growth and development. Furthermore, in Sec.6 of this Act states that “a child 15 years
old or under at the commission of the offense shall be exempted from criminal liability. A child
above 15 years but below 18 years old is likewise exempted from criminal liability but be
subjected to an intervention program”.
In the article of Soriano (2001), she stipulates that theft and robbery are crimes against
property were most of the crimes today are done by minors. This indicates that economic
difficulties drive them into criminal activities. She further adds that the major factor that pushes
the youth towards delinquency is poverty together with family conflict and negative peer
influence. In the Philippines, Verwijs (2002) finds that in the final years of the Marcos era, crime
became hardened in the street. Delinquent youth doubled from 3,814 in 1987 to 6, 778 in 1989.
The majority (59.1%) apprehended were between 17 and 21 years old, while 5 another 31.8%
were between 13 and 16 years old. This situation is based on data given by the Department of
Social Welfare.
Villanueva (2006) declares the four factors that contribute on juvenile delinquency. These
four factors are:
Family. The first and most basic institution in the society where the child learns to curb
his desires and to accept rules that define the time, place and circumstance. Child’s personal
needs are satisfied in a socially acceptable manner in the family. However, the child tends to
become delinquent as influence by his/her own family due to (1) faulty development of the child,
(2) lack of parental guidance/monitoring, (3) lack of maternal affection, (4) unfair treatment, and
(5) parental rejection and broken home.
Environment. This is where the child is influenced after his/her first highly formative
years. His/her friends in the community may influence him/her to become delinquent.
Eventually, he/she becomes victim of his/her own environment, attitude, dress, tastes, ambitions,
and even behavior which have been already influenced by those anti-social acts recognized in
their environment. Some of the causes are, (1) associations with criminal groups, (2) alcoholism
and drug addiction, (3) crime inducing situation that causes criminalistics tendencies, and (4)
imitated instinct like selfishness, violence and anti-social wishes.
School. Unlike the family, the school is the public instrument for training young people.
Therefore, schools are more directly accessible to change the youth through the development of
new resources and policies. Schools are the principal institutions for developing young people to
the goals and values of society. The failure of the school in character development of the
children is one of the instances that the school will contribute to juvenile delinquency. In
addition, the use of methods that create the conditions of failure or frustrations on the part of the
students, truancy and lack of facilities for curricular and extra-curricular activities are also some
of the instances that caused juvenile delinquency.
Other departments or agencies of the government. They also create factors that influence
the youth to become delinquent, such as: (1) political interference of the higher positions, (2)
unfair decisions of the court, (3) police carelessness and unfair treatment, (4) influence from the
newspapers, movies, t.v, radio, comic, and other magazines.
 The causes of juvenile crimes are usually found at each level of social culture, including
society as a whole, social institution, groups and organization and interpersonal relations.
Juveniles’ choice of delinquent activities is triggered by different factors like: economic and
social factors, cultural factors, urbanization, family, media, exclusion, and peer influence
(“Juvenile Delinquency”, 2003).

SYNTHESIS RELEVANCE

The bases and studies used are previous research and literatures of people that exerted
their time and effort for the completion of the papers. The researcher was able to gather
necessary information for her chosen topic and tried and used different theories that relate these
studies to broader areas of knowledge. This kind of topic of research paper are quite difficult to
find and address since factors affecting delinquent acts and proposing amendments is in fact
broad, unstable and dynamic, broad and unstable because social trends affects the acts of these
children in conflict with the law.
Based on the review of related literature and studies, it can be inferred that previous
researches and studies focused more on establishing the different factors as a general, but the
researcher believed that these factors varies depending on its location or place where it happen or
it depends upon the what time frame did the crime committed. Based on the historical context of
the system of juvenile delinquents (before) in the country, before the present law took effect it
underwent several precedence like the Presidential decree during the time of former President
Marcos and Batas Pambansa that was acted.
Amendments to RA 9344, based on the relevant studies, researches and literatures, it can
be concluded that the factors affecting the delinquent acts of these children can matter on how
and what are the propose amendments can be. In this study, varying social trends contributed to
the factors affecting delinquent acts which will help our legislators and the researcher to
formulate a new proposed amendments regarding the determination of the age requirement
required under Section 6 and Section 7 of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Acr.