Krystine Ann C. Zomil, RCrim.

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 ABOUT THIS INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL

COURSE CODE: CRIMINOLOGY 5

COURSE TITLE: JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AND JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM

This course deals with the etiology of delinquent and criminal behavior and the factors
that bring about juvenile delinquency; prevention and control of teenage crime and
manner of combating it; influence of community institutions on delinquency; organization
of civic and government councils for the prevention of juvenile delinquency;
establishment of recreation and character building agencies; counseling and guidance
clinics for juveniles and police juvenile control bureaus; study of juvenile courts;
probation service and correctional institutions; study of social welfare agencies and the
laws applicable. (CMO 05, series of 2018).
This course deals with the etiology of delinquency, the theories of delinquency, deviant
behaviors and factors that cause it, and the measures for deterrence and control of teenage
crime. Moreover, the course recognizes the various laws and provisions that protect the rights
and welfare of children including the role of different agencies in handling child in conflict with the
law and its relationship to Philippine Juvenile Justice System and the diversion program
This is a 3-unit course with 3 hours of interaction: 3 hours lecture. As the COVID-19
pandemic continue to affect the educational system, a blended approach will be used. In a
week, 2 hours will be spent for modular approach (home assignment) and 1 hour for online
instruction.
OBJECTIVES
1. Define important terms in juvenile delinquency;
2. Identify the nature and extent of delinquency;
2. Evaluate the different factors and causes of juvenile delinquency;
3. Determine the history of delinquency and the theories revolving it; and
4. Enumerate the right of the child and the roles of different social institutions.
 Table of Contents
ABOUT THE MATERIAL i

OBJECTIVES i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

INSTRUCTIONS iv

PRE-TEST iv

INTRODUCTION v

CHAPTER I. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE, CONCEPTS AND PHILOSOPHIES OF JUVENILE

DELINQUENCY

1.1 Historical Perspective of Juvenile Delinquency

1
1.2 Assumptions in Juvenile Delinquency
1
1.3 What is Juvenile Delinquency?
2
1.4 What is Juvenile?
3
1.5 What is Delinquency?
4
1.6 Concept and Philosophies of Juvenile Delinquency
5
1.7 Contemporary Developmental Concepts
6

CHAPTER II. NATURE AND EXTENT OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

2.1 Social Nature Of Delinquency 9

2.2 Extent Of Juvenile Delinquency 10

2.3 Categories Of Delinquent Youth 10

2.4 Methodology Towards Delinquency 11

2.5 Types Of Youth Behavior Disorder 11

CHAPTER III. THEORIES OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

3.1 Overview 14

3.2 Two Competing World Views 15

3.3 Individual Views of Delinquency 16

3.4 Sociological Views of Delinquency 19

3.5 Developmental Theories of Delinquency 21

CHAPTER IV. FACTORS AND CAUSES OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

4.1 Factors Leading To Juvenile Delinquency 26

4.2 Causes Of Behavioral Disorders 28

4.3 Specific Factors Affecting Delinquency 29

4.4 Socialization Processes 31

4.5 General Prevention 31

CHAPTER V. FAMILY CONDITIONS, AND THE ROLE OF THE PARENTS AND TEACHERS
AGAINST DELINQUENCY

5.1 Definition of Terms 33

5.2 The Role of Family and Other Social Institutions 38

5.3 Rights of the Children and Other Pertinent Laws 43

Protecting Them

5.4 Duties of Parents 44

5.5 Presidential Decree No.603 45

5.6 Classification of Child and Youth Welfare Agencies 46

5.7 Classification of Mental Retardation 47

5.8 Republic Act No.7610 47

5.9 Republic Act No.9344 48

POST-TEST 53

PROCESS QUESTION 54
ACTIVITY 54

RUBRICS 55

ABOUT THE COMPILERS 57

INSTRUCTIONS
In this material, there will be Pre-Test and Post-Test. Please answer Pre-Test without
first reading the materials. Post-test could be found at the end of the chapter. Submit your
answers for Pre-test, Post-Test, Process questions and Chapter Activity at the google
classroom. Post-Test, Process Questions and Chapter Activity are graded.

However, Pre-Test are not graded but will be used by the Instructor/ Professor to asses
if there is an increase of knowledge after reading the lesson.

“Learning is easy and fun, if we take it with positivism and motivation to do so. We may
deviate from what is usual, but stepping into something new is another avenue to innovate”.
Enjoy learning at home!

PRE-TEST (5 points)
Instruction: Choose the correct answer without first reading the lecture. Submit only the letter of
your choice.
1. It is an anti – social behavior or act which differs from the normal model of set of laws and
parameters, culture, custom which society in broad – spectrum does not conform.
a) Delinquency
b) Juvenile
c) Juvenile delinquency
d) Delinquent

2. It refers to an anti- social behavior of the youth is a direct result of internal conflict and pre-
occupation with his own emotion and mood. Therapy and counseling is necessary to control this
type of delinquency, failure to do so will be risky since this anti- social behavior makes the child
prone to commit serial crimes upon adulthood.
a) Neurotic
b) Social
c) Asocial
d) Accidental

3. It refers to the one who repeatedly commits an act that is against the norms or mores
observed by the society. When a person habitually commits an act that is not in accordance with
the rules or policies of a community where he belongs, he is considered a delinquent.
a) Delinquent
b) Delinquency
c) Juvenile Delinquency
d) Juvenile

4. It refers to internal propensities which may not be considered as a criminal act unless the
attempt was made.
a) Predisposing factor
b) Precipitating factor
c) Suspect
d) Torts

5. It is the independence of a minor from his or her parents before reaching age of majority
a) Legal age
b) Emancipation
c) Puberty
d) Marriage

INTRODUCTION

Juvenile crime denotes various offenses committed by children or youth. Such acts are
sometimes referred to as juvenile delinquency. Children offenses typically include acts
considered crimes if committed by adults, and status offenses, which are less serious
misbehavior, such as truancy and parental disobedience. Both are within the jurisdiction of the
juvenile court and must be subjected to prison sentences.

Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as
juvenile detention centers. The specific requirements vary from country to country. A child or
adolescent who is capable of being friendly, obedient, and caring-who found follow the rules and
act morally and ethically under normal circumstances-can be driven to juvenile delinquency if
neglected, abandoned, or abused.
 CHAPTER I

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE, CONCEPTS AND PHILOSOPHIES OF JUVENILE

DELINQUENCY

1.1. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Since ancient times, enlightened legal systems have distinguished between juvenile
delinquents and adult criminals. The immature generally were not considered morally
responsible for their behavior. Under the Code of Napoleon in France, for example under the
age of 16. Despite of the apparent humanity of some early statutes, however, the punishment of
juvenile offenders until the 19th century was often severe. In the U.s, child criminals were treated
as adult criminals. Sentences for all offenders could be harsh, and the death penalty was
occasionally imposed.

The first institution expressly for juvenile, the House of Refuge, was founded in New
York City in 1825 so that that institutionalized delinquents could be kept apart from adult
criminals. By the mid-19th century, other state institutions for juvenile delinquents were
established, and their population soon included not only young criminals but also less serious
offenders and dependent children. The movement spread rapidly throughout the U.S and
abroad. These early institutions were often very rigid and punitive.

In the second half of the 19th century, increased attention was given to the need for the
special legal procedures that would protect and guide the juvenile offender rather than the
subject the child to the full force of the criminal law. The juvenile justice system began to
develop, and jurisdiction over criminal acts by children was transferred from adult courts to the
newly created juvenile courts.

One of the principal reasons for the new system was to avoid the harsh treatment
previously imposed on delinquent children. An act of wrongdoing by a minor was seen as an
indication of the child’s need care and treatment rather than a justification for punishing that
child through criminal penalties. Besides the juvenile court, other innovations in with juvenile
delinquents appeared in the 20th century, including child-guidance clinics, juvenile-aid bureaus
attached to police departments or other official agencies, and special programs in schools.

1.2. ASSUMPTIONS IN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Juvenile delinquency has been around since recorded history, although the delinquency
label is fairly recent coinage. Juvenile crime is mentioned as far back as ancient Sumerian and
Hammurabi, where laws concerning juvenile offenders first appeared in written form. In ancient
Britain, children at the age of seven were tied, convicted, and punished as adults. There was no
special treatment for them, a hanging was a hanging,
 Children were viewed as non-persons until the 1700’s. They did not receive special
treatment or recognition. Discipline then is what we now call abuse. There some major
assumptions about life before the 1700s.

The first assumption is that life was hard, and you had to be hard to survive. People at
the time did not have the conveniences that we take for granted. For example. Medical practices
were primitive compared to present-day medicine. Marriages were more for convenience, rather
than for child-bearing or romance.

The second assumption is that infant and child mortality were high. It did not make
sense to the parents in those days to create an emotional bond with children. There was a
strong chance that the children would not survive to adulthood.

At the end of the 18th century, a new cultural transition appeared. This period of history is
sometimes known as the beginning of reason and humanism. People began to see children as
flowers that needed nurturing in order to bloom. They had finally began to emerge as a distinct
group.

1.3. WHAT IS JUVENILE DELINQUENCY?

Juvenile Delinquency is a criminal or anti-social behavior of children and youth. Juvenile

delinquents are usually considered in need of treatment, rehabilitation, or discipline, more
serious offenses committed by minors may be tried in criminal court and subject to prison
sentences.

Under Anglo-American law, a crime is an illegal act committed by a person who has
criminal intent. A long- standing presumption held that, children under fifteen years old were
unlikely to have criminal intent. Many juvenile courts have now discarded this so-called infancy
defense, finding that delinquent acts can be committed by children of any age.

Juvenile Delinquency is an anti – social behavior or act which differs from the normal
model of set of laws and parameters, culture, custom which society in broad – spectrum does
not conform.

Juvenile Delinquency generally refers to youth behavior which is against norm and
regulations of society, which if left unchecked would give rise to criminality.

The terms juvenile delinquency is used to describe a large number of disapprove

behaviors of children or youths. In this sense, almost anything that the youth does which others
do not like is called juvenile delinquency. However, criminologist suggested the following factors
of juvenile delinquent.

1. Juvenile delinquency is used the behavior specifically defined as delinquent

according to the various existing laws and ordinance concerning children or
youth.
 2. The definition of juvenile delinquency must take into account the social reality
that reflected through the media, Books, movies and television help people to
define a particular behavior as delinquent; they often come to be accepted as
real.
3. While almost all children engage in behavior that is in violation of juvenile codes
and laws, we believe that ultimately, juvenile delinquents refers to youths who
have been successfully defined as delinquents.

In a more specific view, acts of juvenile delinquency include violation of law such as
those defined by juvenile codes and laws.
1.4. WHAT IS JUVENILE?

While no law explicitly defines “childhood” the practice of exempting children from legal
responsibility for deviant behavior has been widely followed. Common law exempts children
under the age of seven from the criminal courts because they lack “mens rea” or criminal intent
required for criminal conviction. Children over the age of seven are considered old enough to
know right from wrong and understand the consequences of their actions. They are considered
responsible for their law violating behavior.

However, the child over the age of seven is not viewed as an adult. Typically, adulthood
is not reached until after the onset of puberty, when expectations of the work, marriage, and
other “adult” activities are assumed. An adult is perceived as a man or a woman who has
physically grown and reached mature size and strength.

During the twentieth century, the special status of children became even more clearly
defined and the parameters around their place and participation in society delimited. The values
of extended dependency and formal education, and the absence of fulfilling roles, evolved into
social realities. What developed in society was the emergence of the new life-stage to identify
the period in life in which a young person was not yet considered an adult. The concept of
adolescence was socially created to describe that period.

This produced a legal dilemma in terms of dealing with the youth who violated the law. In
response to society’s desire to hold children over the age of seven legally accountable as
adults, new laws were enacted to deal with law violation by the youth.

The term juvenile began to be used when a particular country enacted law establishing
the legal age for adulthood. Juvenile referred to any person under the legal age of majority.
Hence, the term encompasses a broader age range than adolescence, which is generally
considered to begin with the onset of puberty. However, most juvenile law violations that come
to the attention of juvenile courts occur during the period of adolescence.

Juveniles are young people who are regarded as immature one whose mental as well
as emotional faculties are not fully developed thus making them incapable of taking full
responsibility of their actions.
 In legal points, the term juvenile is a person subject to juvenile court proceedings
because of statutory defined event or condition caused by or affecting that person and was
alleged to have occurred while his or her age was below the age limit.

In view of the above, juvenile delinquents are youthful offenders and have been
adjudicated as such by the court of proper jurisdiction. The term should only be applied to
children who commits criminal offenses and is need of supervision or treatment.
1.5. WHAT IS DELINQUENCY?

The oldest and most familiar description of criminal misconduct by a juvenile is the legal
definition based upon formally codified laws, which specify offenses, sanctions, and age
parameters. During the latter nineteenth century, less serious deviance on the par of youth was
considered a family matter. Extreme or persistent cases of youthful non- conformity or obstinacy
became a matter of community discipline. Public rebuke, whippings, and even capital
punishment were administered to children.

The role definition partially repudiates the strictly legal definition by rejecting the action
that the casual or occasional experimenter with such behavior as truancy, vandalism, fighting,
and running away is a true juvenile delinquents. According to the role definition, the juvenile
delinquents is the individual who sustains a pattern of delinquency over a long period of time,
and whose life and identity are organized around a pattern of deviant behavior.

According to the social response definition, in order for an act and/or an actor to be
defined deviant or delinquent, an audience must perceive and judge the behavior in question.
The audience is the social group or society to which the actor belongs or aspires to belong. The
social consequence of delinquency is not experienced, however, unless the deviant perception
is shared by authoritative and influential others who affects one’s life.

Delinquency refers to any action; course or conduct that deviates from acts approved
by the majority of people. It is a description of those acts that do not conform to the accepted
rules, norms and mores of the society (sociological definition).

Delinquency therefore, is a general term for any misconduct or misbehavior that is

tantamount to felony or offense. It is, however distinct from crime in the sense that the former
may be in the form of violation of law, ordinance or rule but it is punishable only by a small fine
or short-term imprisonment or both.

Legally speaking, delinquency means the failure to perform an act required by law, or
the non-performance of a duty or obligation that is mandated by existing law or rule.

Juvenile crime, in law, terms denoting various offenses committed by children or youths
under the age of 18, such acts are sometimes referred to as Juvenile Delinquency. Children’s
offenses typically included delinquency acts, which would be considered crimes if committed by
adults, and status offenses, which are less serious misbehavior problems such as truancy and
parental disobedience. Both are within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, more serious
offenses committed by minors may be tried in criminal court and be subject to prison sentences.
 In law, a crime is an illegal act committed by a person who has criminal intent. A long-
standing presumption held that, although a person of almost any age can commit a criminal act,
children under 9 years old were presumed to have a criminal intent. Many juvenile courts have
now discarded this so-called infancy defense and have found that delinquent acts can be
committed children of any age.

A delinquent person is one who repeatedly commits an act that is against the norms or
mores observed by the society. When a person habitually commits an act that is not in
accordance with the rules or policies of a community where he belongs, he is considered a
delinquent.
1.6. CONCEPTS AND PHILOSOPHIES OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Considering the rough treatment handed out to children who misbehaved, it should
come as no surprise that children who actually broke the law and committed serious criminal
acts were dealt with harshly, Over the years, this treatment has changed. As society has
become more sensitive to the special needs of children, thus, the importance of the following
concepts of juvenile delinquency.

a. Delinquency and Parens Patriae

The current treatment of Juvenile delinquents is a by-product of developing

national consequences. The designation, delinquent became popular at the onset of the
twentieth century when juvenile courts were instituted, guided by the idea that treating
minors and adults equivalently violated the humanitarian ideals of society. Consequently,
the newly emerging juvenile justice system operated under the philosophy of parens
patriae. Minors who engaged in illegal behavior were viewed as victims of improper
care, custody, and treatment at home.

Dishonest behavior was a sign that the State should step in and take control of
the youths before they committed more serious crimes, acting in the best interest of the
child,. This means that children should not be punished for their misdeeds but instead be
given the care and custody necessary to remedy and control wayward behavior. It
makes no sense to find children guilty of specific crimes. Such as robbery or petty theft,
because that stigmatizes them and labels them as robbers and thieves. Instead, the
catchall term is juvenile delinquency.

b. Legal status of delinquency

The legal status of juvenile delinquents refers to a minor child who has been
found to have violated the penal code. Minor child is defined as an individual who fails
under a statutory age limit, most commonly under 18th years of age. Because of their
minority status, juveniles are usually kept separate from adults and receive different
consideration and treatment under the law. Terminology is also different, Adults can be
 punished; children are treated. If treatment is mandated, children can be sent to secure
detention facilities; they cannot normally be committed to adult prisons.

Children also have their own unique legal status. Minors apprehended for a
criminal act are normally charged with being a Juvenile delinquents regardless of the
crime they commit. These charges are usually confidential, trial records are kept secret,
and the name, behavior, and the background of delinquent offenders are sealed.
Eliminating secrecy are efforts to shield children from the stigma of criminal conviction
and to prevent the youthful misdeeds from becoming a lifelong burden.

c. Legal Responsibility of Youth

Juvenile delinquency concepts occupy a legal status falling somewhere between

criminal and civil law. Under parens patriae, delinquent acts are not considered “Criminals”.
Children cannot be found “guilty” of a crime and punished like adult criminals. The legal
action that determines their need for treatment. This legal theory recognizes that children
who violate the law are in need of the same care and treatment as law- abiding citizens who
cannot care for themselves and require state intervention.

Delinquent behavior is sanctioned less heavily than criminality because the law
considers juveniles as being less responsible for their behavior to: have stronger preference
for risk and novelty; assess the potentially negative consequences of risky conduct less
unfavorably than adults; have a tendency to be impulsive and more concerned with a short –
term rather than long-term consequences; have a different appreciation of time and self-
control, and be more susceptible to peer pressure. Although a number of adolescents may
be more responsible and calculating than adults, under normal circumstances, the law is
willing to recognize age as a barrier to having full responsibility over one’s actions.

1.7 CONTEMPORARY DEVELOPMENTAL CONCEPTS

Although one factor may dominate, the cause of delinquency is essentially multi-
dimensional. This section reviews some of the more important concepts associated with the
cause of delinquency.

1. Age at Onset

Most life-course theories assume that the seed of a criminal career are planted early in
life and that early onset of deviance strongly predicts later criminality. Research supports this by
showing that children who will later become delinquents begin their deviant careers at a very
early age, and the earlier the onset of criminality, the more frequent, varied and sustained the
criminal career.

2. Life Transition

Developmental theories focus attention on the chronic or persistent offender. Although

the concept of chronic offenders, is now an accepted fact, delinquency experts are still
struggling to understand why this is so. They do not fully understand why, when, faced with a
similar set of life circumstances, one youth becomes a chronic offender while another may
commit occasional illegal acts but later desist from crime. One possibility is that when faced with
important life transitions, some youths succeed, while others are incapable of maturing in a
reasonable and timely fashion.

3. Problem Behavior Syndrome

Some developmental advocates believe that delinquency may best be understood as

one of many social problems faced by at-risk youth. Referred to as problems behavior
syndrome, developmental theorists realize that crime occurs among a group of anti-social
behavior that clusters together and typically involves family dysfunction, substance abuse,
smoking, precocious sexuality and early pregnancy, educational underachievement, suicide
attempts, sensation-seeking and unemployment.

4. Pathways to Crime and Delinquency

Developmental theorists recognize that career delinquents may travel more than a single
road. Some may specialize in violence and extortion, some may be involved in theft and frauds;
others may engage in a variety of delinquent acts. Some offenders may begin their careers
early in life, whereas others are late bloomers who begin committing crime when most people
desist.

5. Delinquent Trajectories

In addition to taking different paths to criminality, people may begin their journey at
different times. Some are precocious, beginning their delinquent careers early, while others stay
out of trouble until their teenage years. Some offenders may peak at an early age, whereas
others persist into adulthood. Research shows that there are a number of categories of
delinquent careers that seem to reflect changes in the life course. Some youths maximize their
offending rates at a relatively early age and later reduce their delinquent activity; others persist
into their 20s.

6. Continuity of Crime of Delinquency

Another aspect of developmental theory is the continuity of crime. The best predictor of
future criminality is past criminality. Children who are repeatedly in trouble during early
adolescence will generally still be anti-social in the middle and late teens and as adults. Males
who begin their offending career before age 14 are the most likely to begin serious offending by
age 18, with earliest onset age relating to the most severe delinquency patterns.
 CHAPTER II

NATURE AND EXTENT OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

2.1 SOCIAL NATURE OF DELINQUENCY

Adolescence is a social product that reflects the dominant attitudes, values, and beliefs
of society’s culture. Largely, as a result of urbanization and industrialization, the society created
the concept of adolescence and its accompanying normative expectation in an effort to
differentiate and regulate the social status, role and legal treatment of people in this category
from adult members of society. One of the results is the prolongation of the period of transition
from childhood. Another is the creation of a new form of social deviance- juvenile delinquency.

Prolonging the transition from childhood to adulthood in an urban-industrial society has

been functional in many ways. For example, it has extended the length of time spent on formal
education, delayed entry into the workforce, delayed marriage, and extended the period of time
available for the anticipatory socialization into future adult roles. It also had some negative
consequence. One of these is the marginality experienced by individuals who have biologically
and physiologically matured into young adulthood, but who are socially, biologically and
physiologically matured into young adulthood, but who are socially and legally denied access to
a meaningful adult role.

A youth sub-culture has formed, in part, in response to the difficulty of growing up in a

society that forces adult values upon juveniles who are not allowed to fully participate in the
social system. The creation of adolescence, and the fact the youth automatically experiences
social limbo, denies the youth the opportunity to acquire the basic skills, knowledge, and other
attributes required in adult life. The marginal status arising from this temporary “no man’s land”
between child and adult, undoubtedly contributes to adolescent deviance.

How to react in the social deviance of youth has been extremely problematic for society.
Ideologically floundering among the divergent philosophies of protecting, treating, rehabilitating,
and punishing juveniles for their misbehavior, policies and programs have been developed
which have attempted to do one or numerous individual successes, the overall result has been
well over a century of indecisive and inflective efforts toward alleviating the problem of juvenile
delinquency.

A major element of the problem has stemmed from the inability or reluctance to the part
of the many to recognize and understand its social dimensions. Often viewed apart from its
social context, delinquency has been approached as a discrete problem to be studied,
analyzed, and treated. The consequence has been disjointed efforts at control and prevention
aimed at specific individuals, or in some cases, when viewed more sociologically, at family’s
neighborhoods, gangs, and communities. The vast majority of these efforts, however, have
ignored the broader societal context of juvenile delinquency almost entirely.
 From the sociological perspective, juvenile delinquency, like any other social problem, is
inherently social in nature. From the cultural values which undergird the social norms defining
delinquency, the social dimension is ever present. Consequently, if society is to deal effectively
with the problem of juvenile delinquency, its members must evaluate the problem in its broadest
and most fundamental social context. This necessitates totally rethinking the problem of
delinquency-its definition, its social causes, social context, and its social consequences.

This process of rethinking the problem necessitates eliminating or at least reducing the
social and legal marginality experienced by juveniles. It also should include standardizing
juvenile codes, decriminalizing status offenses, revising juvenile courts and modifying juvenile
corrections. Further, such an effort must include strengthening the family institution, changing
the educational system to provide improved socialization, and totally redefining the concept of
juvenile delinquency.

NATURE OF DELIQUENCY

Factors affecting the rate of Juvenile Delinquency:

1. Age- change in the age distribution of the population deeply influences crime and
delinquency rate.

2. Economy- expert believes that long-term economic downturn coupled with a relatively large
number of teens in the population will produce high delinquency rates.

3. Drugs- drug use has been linked to fluctuations in the crime and delinquency rates. Drug
abusers are particularly crime prone, so drug use levels increase, so too do crime rates.

4. Media- some experts argue that violent media can influence youth crime. Watching violence
on television is correlated to aggressive behaviors, especially kids with pre-existing tendency
towards crime and violence.

5. On going social problems- (divorce, school drop-outs, teen pregnancy and racial inequality)
as the level of social problems increases so do crime and delinquency rates.

6. Abortion- there are available empirical evidence showing that the recent drop in the crime
rate can be attributed to the availability of legalized abortion. According to some researcher if
abortion were illegal, they believe that crime rates might be 10 to 20 percent higher than they
currently are with legal abortion.

7. Guns- as the number of guns in the hands of children increases, so do juvenile violence
rates. Violence rates are also related to gun possession; the higher the violence rates in a
neighborhood, the more likely kids are to carry guns, most likely for self-protection.

8. Gangs- gang and violence are almost synonymous, the presence of gangs in an area will
greatly contribute to the rate of the crime and delinquency.

9. Juvenile Justice Policy- (punishment) some law enforcement experts have suggested that a
reduction in crime rates may be attributed to a recent “get tough” attitude toward delinquency.
2.2. EXTENT OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Children and youth are victims of theft and violent crimes. Some juveniles are victims of
abuse and neglect at the hands of their parents or other caregivers. The term “dependent and
neglected children” describes those who are not provided with proper shelter, clothing, food,
clean and safe living conditions, and medical needs. Child abuse ranges from verbal abuse to
physical and sexual abuse. The extent of child victimization is reported by the National Child
Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
2007). Child victimization has been linked to problem behaviors, delinquency, and criminal
behavior later in life. An understanding of victimization and juvenile delinquency is therefore
important for a better understanding of the most appropriate juvenile justice system responses
to these problems.

Based on the findings on the study conducted by Abella (2016), there is really a strong
relationship between the home and the outside environment of the children in conflict with the
law. Offenders are also becoming younger and younger. Home is an important factor that we
should consider to address the increasing number of younger generation committing crimes.
Therefore, all efforts should be done to build and strengthen the family to make it stable. The
Local Government Unit on the other hand must give extra effort as should serve as the primary
implementer of laws and adopt a comprehensive plan to prevent delinquent activities.

2.3 CATEGORIES OF DELINQUENT YOUTH

a. ACCIDENTAL – Less identifiable in personality and temperament, essentially a law

abiding citizen but by happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. This may be credited
to peer pressure or pure curiosity on the part of the young person.

b. ASOCIAL – Children whose acts are manifested by vile, cruel and atrocious acts and
conduct for which they feel no remorse. Timely intervention is necessary so as to prevent them
from becoming ruthless criminals capable of acts of violence and heinous crimes.

c. NEUROTIC – The anti- social behavior of the youth is a direct result of internal conflict
and pre- occupation with his own emotion and mood. Therapy and counseling is necessary to
control this type of delinquency, failure to do so will be risky since this anti- social behavior
makes the child prone to commit serial crimes upon adulthood.

d. SOCIAL – refers to an aggressive teens who resents authority whether be it parental

school regulations or ordinances and law passed by the proper legislative authorities. The most
common reason for such dislike is focused to anyone who tries to control their conduct.

2.4 METHODOLOGY TOWARDS DELINQUENCY

a. BIOGENIC APPROACH – This view gives an explanation that law violations and
delinquency is a result of some physical defects. It advocates that youth misconduct is a direct
result of faulty biology. Hence the support from family members, friends and acceptance of the
community may solve the problem on delinquency.
 b. PSYCHOGENIC APPROACH – This argues that the critical factors in delinquency are
personality problems, to which the misbehavior is presumed to be the response. This advocates
the use of counseling to curtail juvenile misbehavior.

c. SOCIOGENIC APPROACH – Ascribes the distinction and variation and delinquency

pattern to social structures. The youth misdeed may be attributed to their learning process
cultured in on youth gangs, stigmatizing contacts with governmental and social control agencies
and other similar variables.

2.5 TYPES OF YOUTH BEHAVIOR DISORDER

a. ANTI- SOCIAL BEHAVIOR – it may be best characterized by disobedience and

disrespect for authority.

b. TRUANCY – Students failing to attend their classes for 20 days without any
reasonable cause. This may be attributed to the school’s proximity to place of vices, unattractive
school life, failing grades, strict and unreasonable mentors, family and domestic problems; fear
of school bullies and fear of punishment.

c.VAGRANCY – Refers to children who are unable to cope with their family life and
chooses to leave the family home. This is a direct result of Feeble- mindedness, disagreeable
home conditions, broken homes and misdirected fancy for adventures.

d. EMOTIONAL DISORDERS – Such misbehavior is related to fear reactions, temper

tantrums and jealousy reactions.

e. LYING – The penchant for not telling the truth clearly manifest that the following are
lacking: love, security, attention, respect, acceptance, praise and happiness.

f. STEALING – This criminal act comes from loose morals in the home, lack of economic
security wherein the parents are unable to provide for the needs of their children, undisciplined
desire for possession and pleasure seeking and parental indifference.
 CHAPTER III

THEORIES OF DELINQUENCY

3.1 OVERVIEW

Explaining juvenile delinquency is a complex task. Just as the causal factors of

delinquency are differing and numerous, so are the definitions. Sociologists define deviance as
any behavior that members of a social group define as violating their norms. This concept
applies both to criminal acts of deviance and non-criminal acts that member of a group view as
unethical, immoral, peculiar, sick, or otherwise outside the bounds of respectability.

The basic definition looks at delinquency as an act that defies or diverges from cultural
and legal norms; others interpret crime as a basic lack of positive social ties or bonds. Many of
the theories presented will be applicable to at least some instances of crime and delinquency in
society. Crime is such a diverse topic that the explanation of this social problem is just as
complex.

Over time, many theories have been developed to explain why people fail to obey
society’s laws--- - why do people become criminals? Other theories take the opposite approach
and try to explain why people obey the laws--- - why do people not become criminals? The
following theories explore these questions.

During the first half of the twentieth century, several personal explanations regarding
delinquency gained prominence. The earliest theories explored choice, trait, and biological and
psychological fact6ors. In fact, physical and psychological examinations of children brought
before the court were standard orders in the juvenile court process. Judicial disposition often
included individual counseling and psychological therapy. In the late 1950s, under the influence
of therapists, group counseling became common in most juvenile institutions.

Slowly, this approach was replaced with social and environmental explanations for
delinquency. Delinquency prevention focused on reorganizing the social environment, both
physically, through housing renewal, and socio-economically, through social welfare. There was
a significant philosophical shift of blame for delinquency from personal to social factors.
Consequently, the national government was increasingly drawn into the process of juvenile
delinquency prevention.

Developmental research was inspired by the early efforts of Sheldon and Glueck. They
popularized research of the life cycle of delinquent careers. In a series of longitudinal research
studies, they made extensive use of interviews and records that predicted persistent offending.

3.2 THEORIES OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Life Course Theories on Delinquency

Integrated Life Course Theories
Integrated theories of crime represent an attempt to bridge the ideological differences
that exist among various older theories of the crime by integrating variables from disparate
theoretical approaches. An integrated approach recognized that crime is a complex,
multidimensional phenomenon with multiple causes. By integrating a variety of ecological,
socialization, biological, and economic factors into a coherent structure, such theories overcome
the shortcomings of the older theories that may be criticized on the grounds of reductionism.
That is, many older theories of crime argue that one casual variable is predominantly important
as a cause of crime. A problem with such an approach is that not all persons exposed to that
variable (for example, poverty) commit crime. Integrated theories recognize that multiple social
and individual factors interact to result in the eventual behaviour of individuals, and that we must
consider the constellation of factors in an individual’s life in order to understand his or her
behaviour.

Multi-Factor Theories
The Social Development Model.
Multi-factor theories integrate a range of variables into a cohesive explanation of
criminality. The first of these to be discussed is the social development model. The social
development model developed by Catalano and Hawkins examines delinquency as the result of
acquired anti-social and pro-social behaviour s brought on by certain risks and protective
factors. These factors encompass a wide range of biological, psychological, and social variables
considered in previous theory and research. Most notably, the social development model
synthesizes control, social learning, and differential association theory, while acknowledging
other associated factors not accounted for by these theories, such as position in the social
structure, acquired skills, and constitutional (biological factors). in addition, the theory more
adequately accounts for interactional effects between variables not generally acknowledge by
previous theories.
The social development model hypothesizes that during the elementary school
development period, children learn patterns of behaviour, whether pro social or antisocial,
primarily from the socializing units of the family and school, with peers and neighbourhood
influences playing an increasing role as children progress through the elementary school years.

According to the social development model, children are socialized through processes
involving for four constructs: (1) perceived opportunities for involvement in activities and
interactions with others, (2) the degree of involvement in activities and interactions, (3) the skills
to participate in this involvement and interaction,(4) the reinforcement they perceive from this
involvement and interaction. These constructs are hypothesized to be ordered causally, with
more perceive opportunities for involvement leading to more actual involvement, which in turn
leads to more reward and recognition. Skills are also hypothesized to affect the amount of
reward and recognition a child receives. When these socializing processes are consistent, a
social bond of attachment and develops between individual and the socializing unit. Once
established, the social bond inhibits behaviour inconsistent with the belief held and behaviors
practised by the socialization unit through establishment of an individual’s stake in conforming to
the norms, values, and behaviours of the socializing unit to which he or she is bonded. It is
hypothesized that the behaviour of the individual will be pro-social or anti-social, depending on
the predominant behaviours, norms, and values held by those individuals or institutions to which
the individual is bonded.

Elliott’s Integrated Theory

The second multi-factor theory that will be examined is Elliott’s integrated theory (Elliott,
Ageton and Center, 1979). This theory combines the principles of strain, control and social
learning theories into a single theoretical framework. This theory specifies a casual pathway in
which strain leads to the weakening of social bonds with conventional others and institutions,
leading to greater association with deviant peers and the subsequent learning of anti-social and
delinquent values. Specially, adolescents who will live in socially disorganized neighborhoods or
who are improperly socialized have an increased risk of perceiving strain. The perceptions of
strain can lead to the weakening of bonds with conventional groups, activities and norms. Such
weakened bonds, in conjunction with high levels of strain, lead to the rejection of conventional
values and encourage youths to seek out deviant peer groups. Such deviant associations create
the environment for the environment for the social learning and reinforcement of anti-social
values and behaviour. This essentially increases delinquent and criminal behaviour.

Life Course Theories:

Life course theories represent an integrated approach to explaining criminality, and

accept that multiple social, personal, economic, and other factors influence crime. Life course
theories further argue that in order to understand criminality, one must consider these multiple
causal factors over the life course, and that different factors may be more or less important at
varying stages within the life course and may serve to initiate, reinforce, or even reduce criminal
activity. As people make important transitions in their lives, form childhood to adolescence, from
adolescence to adulthood, from unmarried to married, or for unemployed to employed for
example, the nature of their social interactions change, and so too does the importance of
various causal influences on criminality. As a consequence, levels of criminal activity also
change. This section will focus on the following life course theories of criminality: Moffitt’s theory
of delinquency, Farrington’s theory of delinquent development, interactional theory, and
Sampson and Laub’s age-graded Theory.

Moffitt’s Theory of Deliquency

Moffitt (1993) proposes that there are two primary hypothetical prototypes that explain
delinquent behaviour and the onset of criminality: life-courses-persistent offenders, whose anti-
social behaviour begins in childhood and continues to worsen thereafter, and adolescence-
limited offenders, whose anti-social behaviour begins in adolescence and desists in young
adulthood. Life-course-persistent anti-social are few, persistent, and pathological, whereas
adolescent-limited anti-socials are common, relatively temporary, and near normative. This
developmental typology hypothesizes that childhood-onset and adolescence-onset conduct
problems have different etiologies.

This theory argues that life-course-persistent anti-social behaviour originates early in life,
when the difficult behaviour of a high-risk young child in exacerbated by a high-risk
environment. According to the theory; the child’s risk emerges from inherited or acquired
neuropsychological variation, initially manifested in subtle cognitive deficits, difficult
temperament, or hyperactivity. The environment’s risk comprises factors such as inadequate
parenting, disrupted family bonds and poverty. The environmental risks domain expands
beyond the family, as the child ages, to include poor relations with people such as peers and
teachers, and later, with partners and employers. Over the first two decades of development,
transactions between individual and environment gradually construct a disordered personality
with hallmark features of physical aggression and antisocial behaviour persisting to mid-life.
Moffitt argues that the personalities characteristics associated with life-course-persistent anti-
social behaviour, such as aggression may have been more adaptive for males compared with
females in the evolutionary environment of humans. As such, more males than females possess
such personality characteristics, putting them at greater risk that females of serious criminality.

In contrast, adolescent-limited anti-social behaviour emerges with puberty, when

otherwise healthy youths experience dysphoria during the relatively roleless years between their
biological maturation and their access to mature privileges and responsibilities, a period called
“the maturity gap”. While adolescents are in this gap, it is virtually normative for them to find the
life-course-persistent anti-socials’ delinquent lifestyle appealing, and to mimic it as a way to
demonstrate autonomy from parents, win affiliation with peers, and hasten social maturation.
However, because their pre-delinquent development was normal and healthy, most young
people who become adolescent- limited delinquents are able to desist from crime once they age
into real adult roles, turning gradually to a more conventional lifestyle. This recovery may be
delayed if the adolescent-limited delinquent encounter “snares”, such as a criminal record,
incarceration, addiction, truncated education, or other such factors that may hinder the transition
to a conventional lifestyle.

In summary, Moffitt argues that there are two distinct development pathways to
delinquency: life-course-persistent anti-social development and adolescent-limited antisocial
development. Moffitt estimates the prevalence of life-course-persistent anti-social at five
percent, though they account for a much larger proportion of delinquent acts and criminality.
The genesis of this pattern of anti-social behaviour resides in neuropsychological defects, poor
parenting, lower IQ, and heritable personality traits such as negative emotionality and
impulsivity. This represents pathological behaviour, if lifelong, and may be treated resistant. In
contrast, adolescence-limited delinquency (the majority of adolescents) is non-pathological, and
can be attributed to learning (limitation of the life course-persistent) and a maturity gap between
biological and social age. Moffitt demonstrates how such imitated behavior is adaptive to the
social and historical context of adolescent development. This model additionally accounts for
the often-noted decline in the social-behavior, I the majority of adolescents, once they attain
adulthood. Drawing on evolutionary psychology. This model also accounts for gender disparities
in crime.

Farrington’s Theory of Delinquent Development

Farrington’s theory of delinquent development derived from research conducted as a

part of a Cambridge study of delinquent development, which followed the offending careers of
411 London boys born in 1953. this study used self-report and interview data, as well as
psychological testing, and collected data from the subject at eight times over a 24-year period,
beginning when subjects were eight years old. This study, in agreement with previously
developed life course theories, found the existence of chronic offenders, the continuity of
offending, and the presence of early onset leading to persistent criminality . Farrington found
that the chronic criminal is typically male, and is born into low-income large families, which have
parents and siblings with criminal records of prior offending and in which parents are likely to be
separated or divorced. It was found that parenting was an important factor predicting future
criminality. The future criminal receives poor parental supervision, including the use of harsh or
erratic punishment. The signs of later criminal behavior were manifest as early as age eight,
which such persons already exhibited anti-social behaviour, including dishonesty and
aggressiveness. At school, such individuals had low educational achievement and were
described as restless, troublesome, hyperactive, impulsive and truant. It was also found that the
typical offender associated with friends who also exhibited anti-social behaviour. The study also
found that the typical offender provided the same kind of deprived and disrupted family life or
his own children, and thus social conditions and experiences that produce delinquency are
transmitted from one generation to the next.

An important aspect of Farrington's research is that it identified factors that predicted

discontinuity from criminal offending. That is, there are individuals who have a background that
puts them at risk of criminal behaviour, and yet they manage to either remain non-offenders, or
begin a criminal career but successfully desist after a while. Factors that protect at-risk youth
from even beginning a criminal career include a shy personality, a non-deviant family, and
being highly regarded by the mother. Other factors were found to influence successful
desistance from criminality. These include having a relatively good job and being married,
e3xcept where the person’s spouse is also engaged in criminal activity. Residential relocation
was also found to influence desistance, since relocation allowed for the severing of ties and
associations with co-offenders.

At the theoretical level, Farrington’s research contributes a number of ideas to

understanding the genesis, maintenance and desistance from criminal behaviour. These are as
follows: 1) Childhood factors predict a continuity of adolescent and adult antisocial and criminal
behaviour; 2) economic deprivation, poor parenting, an anti-social or criminal family,, and
personalities marked by impulsivity, hyperactivity, and attention deficit all increase the risk of
anti-social behaviour in children; 3) adolescents are motivated to engage in criminogenic
behavior because of the desire for material goods, excitement and status with peers; 4) effective
childrearing and consistent discipline, coupled with close parental supervision, reduces the risk
of childhood and subsequent and anti-social behaviour; and 5) in adulthood, having a good job,
being married, and residential relocation can encourage desistance from criminality.

Interactional Theory

Interactional theory is another integrated life course theory of criminality, and was
developed by Thornberry (1987) and Krohn (2005). there are three fundamental aspects of
interactional theory. The first is that the theory takes a life course perspective. By this, the
authors mean that they view delinquency involvement as something that unfolds over time; for
most people, it has an onset, a duration and, for most offenders, a termination. Explaining this
behaviour at various ages requires linking anti-social behaviour patterns to other trajectories in
life, such as family, school and work experiences. Interactional theory predicts a mixture of
causes that differ depending on one’s age and reflect successes or failures in previous
developmental stages. Interactional theory asserts that at differing ages, different influences
become more important for the person concerned. During childhood and early adolescence,
attachment to the family is the single most important determinant of whether a youth will adjust
to conventional society and be shielded from delinquency. By mid-adolescence, the family is
replaced by the world of friends, school and youth culture. In adulthood, a person’s behavioural
choices are shaped by his or her place in conventional society and his or her own family. The
second premise of the theory is that delinquency and “many of its causes often become
involved in mutually reinforcing causal loops as delinquent careers unfold” (Thornberry and
Krohn, 2005: 188). in other words, delinquency and its causes interact with each other, often
resulting in greater or lesser levels of offending. For instance, ineffective parenting may lead to
delinquency involvement, which, in turn, may result in parental responses that further increase
the occurrence of delinquent behaviour. The third key premise of the theory is that the multiple
causes of delinquency vary in their magnitude across persons due to the presence of “offsetting
assets” or protective factors. This concept asserts that as the magnitude of the causal force
increases, the person’s involvement in crime becomes more likely and increases in severity.

In addition to the three main premises, interactional theory includes other assertions and
hypothesis. For instance, early involvement in anti-social behaviour is the result of what is
described as “the intense coupling of structural, individual, and parental influences, that is, when
the causal force associated with childhood antisocial behavior is near a maximum” (Thornberry
and Krohn, 2005: 190). Additionally, the theory asserts that childhood onset of delinquency is
strongly associated with growing up in families and neighbourhood characterized by poverty and
disorganization. Reminiscent of Moffit (1993) discussed earlier, the theory also asserts that age-
appropriate or normative inset of offending appears to be a reflection of increased peer
influences, decreased parental supervision, and associations with peers who wants to
demonstrate rebellion againts adult authority. Finally,”late starters,” defined as those who begin
frequent offending at ages beyond the modal onset years of adolescence, are hypothesized to
have lower intelligence and academic competence, but they were not affected by these traits
earlier because they had a supportive family and school environment.

Sampson and Laub’s Age-Graded Theory of informal Social Control

Sampson and Laub’s age-graded theory of informal social control is the final integrated
life course theory that will be examined in this section of the report (Sampson and Laub, 1992,
1993, 1997; Laub and Sampson, 1993). Sampson and Laub assume that crime and other forms
of deviance results, in part, from weak or broken bonds to society. In this way, attention is given
to the influence of informal social controls on involvement in delinquent behaviour, much as it is
in traditional social control theory. Rooted in the life course developmental perspective,
Sampson and Laub’s theory reminds us that the relevant institutions of informal social control
vary by age. For example, during adolescence, social bonds to family, peers and the school are
important.

A key notion drawn from developmental theory is that of cumulative continuity of

disadvantage, which describes a process whereby the negative consequences of problem
behaviour constrain future opportunities for healthy development and contribute to the stability
of anti-social behaviour over time. According to age-graded informal social control theory, the
cumulative continuity of disadvantage can serve to attenuate conventional bonds to society.
Sampson and Laub argue that the onset of a criminal career occurs early in life, but asserts that
even with an established criminal career, delinquency and criminal behaviour can be interrupted
during the life course. They refer to the points of interruption of the cessation of criminogenic
behaviour as turning points. Turning points that allow adults to desist from crime include
marriage and the development of a career. Marriage and a career are examples of events that,
Sampson and Laub argue, create social capital. This represents an investment in conventional
values and society and inhibits criminal behaviour.

Sampson and Laub’s (1993) theory is not simply traditional social control theory recast in
a developmental perspective. The most notable difference between social control theory and
age-graded informal social control theory is that the latter acknowledges the role of both state
dependence (e.g., social control processes) and population heterogeneity (e.g., self-control) in
the continuity of delinquent behavior. According to Laub and Sampson (1993), “[t]he cumulative
continuity of disadvantage is…not only a result of stable individual differences in criminal
propensity, but a dynamic process whereby childhood antisocial behaviour and adolescent
delinquency foster adult crime through the severance of adult social bonds” (306). Thus, these
authors described a mixed theory in which the relationship between past and present offending
is only hypothesized by the theory.

Although not intended to be gender-specific in scope, Sampson and Laub’s (1993)

theory implicity addresses the role of gender in delinquency and crime over the life course. In
stark contrast to Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990), Sampson and Laub (1993) heavily emphasized
social processes (I.e., the attenuation of bonds to conventional society) in the continuity of
deviant behaviour. It is here that research on gender differences in elements of the social bond
has relevance. Specifically, different social processes may be involved in the crime and
delinquency of boys as compared with girls. For example, girls’ delinquency may be controlled
indirectly through, among other mechanisms, emotional bonds to the family. By contrast, boys’
delinquency may be controlled directly through parental monitoring and supervision. Moreover,
attachments to delinquent peers may play an especially important role in the delinquent
behaviour of boys.

Anomie Theory

The anomie theory was first written in the 1940s by Robert Merton. Merton’s theory
explains that juvenile delinquency occurs because the juvenile do not have the means to make
themselves happy. Their goals are unattainable within legal means so they find unlawful means
by which to attain their goals.

An example would be a juvenile who has had a goal to get a job and purchase a car.
The juvenile is not able to find a job to make money so he either steals a car or he steals
money to purchase a car.

Subculture Theory
 Another theory about juvenile delinquency is the subculture theory. In 1995, Albert
Cohen developed the subculture theory, which is a culmination of several of his theories. The
subculture group is formed of other juveniles who also do not meet the social standards.

These groups then act in manners that are not socially acceptable and rebel against the
socially acceptable standards. According to Cohen, juvenile delinquency is a product of society.
The juveniles commit crimes, such as stealing, because it is not a social norm, and they do it to
fit in with their subculture.

Differential opportunity theory was used to explain the emergence of three different
delinquent subcultures: the criminal, conflict, and the retreatist subcultures. Over the years since
its inception, differential opportunity theory has received mixed empirical support.

3.2 TWO COMPETING WORLD VIEWS

Two distinct and opposing views exist as to whom or what is responsible for crime.
These opposing views are the classical and the positivist views:

1. The Classical World View

In the eighteenth century, criminologists began to apply the scientific method to explore
the causes of crime. A leader of the classical school was Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794), whose
work on crime and punishment was published in 1764.

Other important principles of the classical theory include the following: individuals have
free will, some choose to commit crime, ; laws should bring the greater measure of happiness to
the larger number; those who break the law should be punished according to penalties
established in the law; focus is on the crime committed.

Like Rousseau, Beccaria believed that society functions under a social contract, with
individuals giving up certain freedoms to live peacefully together. People organize themselves
into communities in order to ensure their safety and security. Such is the purpose of the state
and its laws.

Classical theorists believed that delinquency was the result of free will. Consequently,
they advocated harsh and immediate punishments so that offenders would be “unwilling” to
commit future crimes.

2. The Positivist World View

A leader of the positivist world view was Cesare Lombroso (1935-1009), an Italian
physician who studied the brain of criminals. Lombroso maintained that criminals were born with
a predisposition to crime, and needed exceptionally favorable condition, in life to avoid criminal
behavior. As the originator of the positivist view of criminality--- - that is, transferring emphasis
from the crime itself to criminal behavior--- - Lombroso has been called the father of modern
criminology.
 He firmly believed that criminals were literally “born,” not made--- - that the primary
cause of crime was biological. He was writing at the same time that Charles Darwin’s theory of
evolution was becoming widely circulated, and he was probably greatly influenced by Darwin’s
ideas. Although some of Lombroso’s work was later found to be flawed, he had started people
thinking about causes for criminal behavior other than free will.

Other important principles of positivist theory include the following; an individual’s action
is determined not by free will but by biological and cultural factors; the purpose of law is to avert
revolution and convince the masses to accept social order; focus is on the criminal.

Positivist view theorists, who believe that delinquent behavior is the result of youth’s
biological makeup and life experiences, feel treatment should include altering one or more
factors that contribute to unlawful behavior.

3.3 INDIVIDUAL VIEWS OF DELINQUENCY

This section covers theoretical models that focus on individual choice. It also discusses
the view that biological and psychological development controls a youngster’s ability to make
choices. Individual views of delinquency are as follows:

1. Choice Theory

The first formal explanation of crime and delinquency held that human behavior was a
matter of choice. Since it was assumed that people had free will to choose their behavior, those
who violated the law were motivated by personal needs, such as greed, revenge, survival,
hedonism. Over 200 years ago, utilitarian philosophers Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham
argued that people weigh the benefit and consequence of their future actions before deciding on
a course of behavior. Their writing formed the core of what is referred to today as classical
criminology.

The classical view of crime and delinquency holds that the decision to violate the law
comes after a careful weighing of the benefits and costs of criminal behavior. Most potential law
violators cease their actions if the potential pain associated with a behavior outweighs its
anticipated gain; conversely, law violating behavior seems attractive if the future rewards seem
far greater than the potential punishment.

According to the classical view, youths who decide to become drug dealers weigh and
compare the possible benefits, such as cash to buy cars, clothes, and other luxury items, with
the potential penalties, such as arrest followed by a long stay in a juvenile facility. If they believe
that drug dealers are rarely caught and even then usually avoid severe punishments, the youths
will likely choose to become dealers. If they believe that dealers are almost always caught and
punished lengthy prison terms, the youths will not likely become dealers. Put simply, in order to
deter or prevent crime, the pain of punishment must outweigh the benefit of illegal activities.

Classical criminologists have argued that punishment should only be severe enough to
deter a particular offense, and that punishments should be graded according to the seriousness
of particular crimes. “Let the punishment fit the crime.” For example, Beccaria argued that it
would be foolish to punish pickpockets and murderers in similar fashion because this would
encourage thieves to kill the victim or witnesses to their crimes,

The popularity of the classical approach was in part responsible for the development of
the prison as an alternative to physical punishment, and the eventual creation of the criminal
sentence geared to the seriousness of crime. The choice approach dominated the policy of the
U.S. justice system for about 150 years.

2. Trait Theory

A number of delinquency experts believe that the choice model is incomplete. They
believe it is wrong to infer that all youths choose crime simply because they believe its
advantages outweigh its risks. If that were the case, how could senseless and profitless crimes
such as vandalism and random violence be explained? These experts argue that human
behavioral choices are a function of an individual’s mental and / or physical makeup. Most law-
abiding youths have personal traits that keep them within the mainstream of conventional
society.

In contrast, youths who choose to engage in repeated aggressive, anti-social, or conflict-

oriented behavior manifest abnormal traits that influence their behavior choices. Uncontrollable,
impulsive behavior patterns place some youths at odds with society, and they soon find
themselves in trouble with the law.

The view that delinquents are somehow “abnormal” is not a new one. Some of the
earliest theories of criminal and delinquent behavior stressed that crime was a product of
personal traits and measurable physical and mental conditions, such as IQ and body build. This
view regarding determined behavior is generally referred to today as positivism. Positivists
believe that the scientific method can be used to measure the causes of human behavior, and
that behavior is a function of often uncontrollable factors, such as mental illness.

The source of behavioral control is one significant difference between trait and choice
theories. The former reasons that behavior is controlled by personal traits, and that reducing the
benefits of crime by increasing the likelihood and severity of punishments will eventually lower
the crime rate. Biosocial theory focuses less on the effects of punishment and more on the
treatment of abnormal mental and physical conditions as crime- reduction method.

3. Biological Theory

For most of the twentieth century, delinquency experts scoffed at the notion that a
youth’s behavior was controlled by physical condition present at birth. The majority of
delinquency research focused on social factors, such as poverty and family life that were
believed to be responsible for law- violating behavior. However, a small group of criminologist
and penologists kept alive the biological approach. Some embraced sociobiology, a perspective
that suggests behavior will adapt to the environment in which it evolved.

Creatures or species are influenced by their genetic inheritance and their innate need to
survive and dominate others. Sociobiology had a tremendous effect on reviving interest in a
biological basis for crime and delinquency, because if biological makeup controls all human
behavior, it follows that a person’s genes should also be responsible for determining whether he
or she chooses law-violating or conventional behavior.

Today, those who embrace trait theory reject the traditional assumptions that all humans
are born with equal potential to learn and achieve, and that thereafter their behavior is controlled
by external or social forces. While traditional criminologists suggest that people are born equal
and that parents, schools, neighborhoods, and friends control subsequent development, trait
theorists argue that no two people are alike, and therefore each will react to environmental
stimuli in a distinct way.

They assume that a combination of personal traits and the environment produces
individual behavior patterns. People with pathological traits such as brain damage and abnormal
personality or low IQ may have a heightened risk for crimes; this risk is elevated by
environmental stresses such as poor family life, educational failure, substance abuse, and
exposure to delinquent peers.

For example, low birth- weight babies have been found to suffer from low educational
achievement later in life; academic deficiency has been linked to delinquency and drug abuse.
The reverse may also apply, for example, a supportive environment may be strong enough to
counteract adverse biological and psychological traits.

Biosocial theorists believe that it is the interaction between predisposition and

environment that produces delinquency. For example, children born into a disadvantaged
environment often do not get the social and familial support they need to overcome their
handicaps. Lack of family support can have long-term physical consequences.

For example, a child’s neural pathways may be damaged by repeated child neglect or
abuse. Once experiences are ingrained, the brain “remembers,” and a pattern of
electrochemical activation is established, which remains present across one’s lifespan. Youths
who suffer both physical and social handicaps, and who also lack social supports, are the ones
who become early onset offenders and persist in a life of crime.

Contemporary biosocial theorists seek to explain the onset of anti-social behaviors, such
as aggression and violence, by focusing on the physical qualities of the offenders. The majority
of major research efforts appear to be concentrated in three distinct areas of study, for example,
biochemical factors, neurological dysfunction, and genetic influences.

4. Psychological Theory

Some experts view delinquency as essentially psychological. After all, most behaviors
labeled delinquent--- - for example, violence, theft, sexual misconduct--- - seem to be
symptomatic of some underlying psychological problem. Psychologists point out that many
delinquent youths have poor home life, destructive relationships with neighbors, friends, and
teachers, and conflicts with authority figures in general.
 These relationships seem to indicate a disturbed personality structure. Furthermore,
numerous studies of incarcerated youths indicate that the youth’s personalities are marked by
negative, anti-social behavior characteristics.

And since delinquent behavior occurs among the youths in every ethnic and socio-
economic group, psychologists view this as a function of emotional and mental disturbance,
rather than a result of social factors. While many delinquents do not manifest significant
psychological problems, enough do to give clinicians a powerful influence on delinquency
theory.

Because psychology is a complex and diversified discipline, more than one

psychological perspective on crime exists. Three prominent psychological perspectives on
delinquency are the psychodynamic, the behavioral, and the cognitive.

3.4 SOCIOLOGICAL VIEWS OF DELINQUENCY

This section reviews the most prominent social theories of delinquency. They are divided
into four groups, i.e., social structure theory, social process theory, social reaction theory, and
social conflict theory.

1. Social Structure Theory

In 1966, sociologist Oscar Lewis coined the phrase “culture of poverty” to describe the
crushing burden faced by the urban poor. According to Lewis, the culture of poverty is marked
by apathy, cynicism, helplessness, and mistrust of institutions such as police and government.
Mistrust of authority prevents the impoverished from taking advantage of the few conventional
opportunities available to them.

The result is a permanent underclass whose members have little chance of upward
mobility or improvement. This extreme level of economic and social hardship has been related
to psychological adjustment, that is, people who live in poverty are more likely to suffer from low
self-esteem, depression, and loneliness.

Nowhere are social problems more pressing than in slum areas that experience
population turnover as their more affluent residents move to stable communities or suburbs.
While the economy has been generally robust, social conditions have worsened in many
blighted urban areas during the past, and their residents have suffered. As a city becomes
hollowed out, with a deteriorated inner core surrounded by less devastated communities,
delinquency rates spiral outwards.

Those remaining are forced to live in communities with poorly organized social networks,
alienated populations, and high crime. The impoverished are deprived of a standard of living
enjoyed by most citizens, and their children suffer from much more than financial hardship. They
attend poor schools, live in substandard houses, and lack good health care. More than half of
families in poverty are ‘fatherless’, and many are supported entirely by government aid despite a
concerned national effort to limit eligibility for public assistance.
2. Social Process Theory

Not all sociologists believe that merely living in impoverished, deteriorated, and lower-
class areas is a determinant of a delinquent career. Instead, they argue that the root cause of
delinquency may be traced to learning delinquent attitudes from peers, becoming detached from
school, or experiencing conflict in the home. Although social position is important, socialization
is considered to be the key determinant of behavior. If the socialization process is incomplete or
negatively focused, it can produce an adolescent with a poor self-image who is alienated from
conventional social institutions.

Socialization is the process of guiding people into acceptable behavior patterns through
information, approval, reward, and punishment. It involves learning the techniques needed to
function in society. Socialization is a developmental process that is influenced by family and
peers, neighbors, teachers, and other authority figures.

Early socialization experiences have a lifelong influence on self-image, values, and

behavior. Even children living in the most deteriorated slum area environments will not get
involved in delinquency if their socialization experiences are positive. After all, most slum area’s
youths do not commit serious crimes, and relatively few of those who do become career
criminals. There are so many youths who live in poverty, but the majorities do not become
chronic offenders. Only those who experience improper socialization are at risk for crime.
Research shows relationships between the elements of socialization and delinquency.

3. Social Reaction Theory

Social reaction theory is the third type of sociological theories of delinquency. According
to social reaction theories, the way society reacts to individuals and the way individuals react to
society determine behavior. Social reactions determine which behaviors are considered criminal
or conventional; they also determine individual behavior and can contribute to the formation of
delinquent careers. Being stigmatized or labeled by agents of social control, including official
institutions such as the police and the courts, the unofficial institutions, such as parents and
neighbors, is what sustain delinquent behaviors.

According to this view, also known as labeling theory, the youth may violate the law for a
variety of reasons, including poor family relationships, peer pressure, psychological abnormality,
and pre-delinquent learning experiences. Regardless of the cause, if an individual’s delinquent
behavior is detected, the offender will be given a negative label that can follow the person
throughout life. These labels include, “troublemaker,” juvenile delinquent,” “mentally ill,” and
“junkie,”

The way labels are applied is likely to have important consequences for the delinquent.
The degree to which youngsters are perceived as deviants may affect their treatment at home
and at school. Parents may consider them as a detrimental influence on younger brothers and
sisters. Neighbors may tell their children to avoid the “troublemaker.” Teachers may place them
in classes reserved for students with behavior problems, minimizing their chances of obtaining
higher education. The delinquency label may also affect the attitude of society in general, and
youthful offenders may be subjected to sanctions ranging from mild reprimand to incarceration.

Thus, through a process of identification and sanctioning, young offenders are

transformed. They are no longer children in trouble; they are “ delinquents,” and they accept that
label as a personal identity--- - a process called self-labeling.

4. Social Conflict Theory

Social conflict theory finds that society is in a constant state of internal conflict, and
different groups strive to impose their will on others. Those with money and power succeed in
shaping the law to meet their needs and maintain their interests. Adolescents whose behavior
cannot conform ton the needs of the power elite are defined as delinquents and criminals.

According to this view, those in power use the justice system to maintain their status
while keeping others subservient, i.e., men use their economic power to subjugate women;
members of the majority want to stare off the economic advancement of minorities; capitalists
want to reduce to power of workers to ensure their willingness to accept low wages. Conflict
theory thus centers around a view of society in which an elite class uses the law as a means of
meeting threats to its status. The ruling class is a self-interested collective whose primary
interest is self-gain.

Social conflict theorists view the law and the justice system as vehicles for controlling the
have- not members of society; legal institutions help the powerful and rich to impose their
standards of good behavior on the entire society. The law protects the property and physical
safety of the haves from attack by the have- nots, and helps control the behavior of those who
might otherwise threaten the status quo. The ruling elite draw the lower- middle class into this
pattern of control, leading it to believe it has a stake in maintaining the status quo.

According to social conflict theory, the poor may or may not commit more crimes than
the rich, but are certainly arrested more often. Police may act more forcefully in areas where
class conflict creates the perception that extreme forms of social control are needed to maintain
order. It is not surprising to conflict theorists that complaints of police brutality are highest in
poverty- riddled neighborhoods, especially those that experience relative deprivation. Police
misbehavior, which is routine in poverty-riddled neighborhoods, would never be tolerated in
affluent areas. Consequently, a deep-rooted hostility is generated among members of the lower
class toward a social order they may neither shape nor share.

3.5 DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES OF DELINQUENCY

A number of systematic theories that account for onset, continuance, and desistance
from crime have been formulated. This section presents a number of developmental theories.

1. Social Development Model Theory

In their social development model, Joseph Weis, Richard Catalano, J. David Hawkins,
and their associates show how different factors affecting children’s social development over
their life course influence their delinquent behavior patterns. As children mature within their
environment, elements of socialization control their developmental process. Children are
socialized develop bonds to their families through four distinct interaction processes, namely: 1)
the perceived opportunities for involvement in activities and interaction with others, 2) the
degree of involvement and interaction with parents, 3) the children’s ability to participate in
these interactions, and 4) the reinforcement they perceive for their participation.

To control the risk of anti-social behavior, a child must maintain pro-social bonds. These
are developed within the context of family life, which not only provides pro-social opportunities
but also reinforces them by consistent, positive feedback. Parental attachment affects a child’s
behavior for life, determining both school experiences and personal beliefs and values. For
those with strong family relationships, school will be a meaningful experience marked by
academic success and commitment to education. Youth in this category are likely to develop
conventional beliefs and values, become committed to conventional activities, and form
attachments to conventional others.

Children’s anti-social behavior also depends on the quality of their attachments to

parents and other influential relations. If they remain unattached or develop attachments to
deviant others, their behavior may become deviant as well. The social development model
suggests that interaction with anti-social peers and adults promotes participation in delinquency
and substance abuse.

The social development model suggests that involvement in pro-social or anti-social

behavior determines the quality of attachments. Adolescents who perceive opportunities and
rewards for anti-social behavior will form deep attachments to deviant peers and will become
committed to a delinquent way of life.

In contrast, those who perceive opportunities for pro-social behavior will take a different
path, getting involved in conventional activities and forming attachments to others who share
their conventional lifestyle.

The social development model holds that commitment and attachment to conventional
institutions, activities, and beliefs insulate youth from the criminogenic influence of their
environment. The pro-social path inhibits deviance by strengthening bonds to pro-social others
and activities.

Without the proper level of bonding, adolescents can succumb to the influence of deviant
others. Many of the core assumptions of the social development model have been tested and
verified empirically. The path predicted by the social development model seems an accurate
picture of the onset and continuation of violent and anti-social behavior, both for early onset
offenders and later onset offenders who begin offending in their teens. Kids who learn deviant
attitudes and behavior, have weak ties to conventional institutions, and perceive that anti-social
behavior is “cool” and rewarding seem to be the ones most likely to engage in criminal behavior.
2. Interactional Theory

Terence Thornberry has proposed a developmental view of crime that he calls

“interactional theory.” He also finds that the onset of crime can be traced to a deterioration of the
social bond during adolescent, marked by weakened attachment to parents, commitment to
school, and belief in conventional values. Interactional theory also holds that seriously
delinquent youth form belief systems that are consistent with their deviant lifestyle. They seek
out the company of other kids who share their interests and are likely to reinforce their beliefs
about the world.

According to interactional theory, delinquents find their passion for the game, that is,
hanging out with other chess players helps improve their game. Similarly, deviant peers do not
turn an otherwise innocent boy into a delinquent; they support and amplify the behavior of kids
who have already accepted a delinquent way of life. The key idea here is that causal influences
are bi-directional. Weak bonds lead kids to develop friendship with deviant peers and get
involved in delinquency.

Frequent delinquency involvement further weakens bonds and makes it difficult to re-
establish conventional ones. Delinquency-promoting factors tend to reinforce one another and
sustain a chronic delinquent career. Thornberry suggests that criminality is a developmental
process that takes on different meaning and form as a person matures. According to
Thornberry, the casual process is a dynamic one and develops over a person’s life.

During early adolescence, attachment to the family is the single most important
determinant of whether a youth will adjust to conventional society and be shielded from
delinquency. By mid-adolescence, the influence of the family is replaced by the “world of
friends, school and youth culture.” By adulthood, individuals’ behavior choices are shaped by
their place in conventional society and their own nuclear family.

In sum, interactional theory suggests that criminality is part of a dynamic, social process
and not just an outcome of that process. Although crime is influenced by social forces, it also
influences these processes and associations to create behavioral trajectories toward increasing
law violations for some people. Interactional theory integrates elements of social
disorganization, social control, social learning, and cognitive theories into a powerful model of
the development of a delinquent career.

3. Age- Graded Theory

If there are various pathways to crime and delinquency, are there trails back to
conformity? In as important 1993 work, Sampson and Laub identity the turning points in a
delinquent career. They reanalyzed the data originally collected by the Gluecks more than forty
years back. Using modern statistical analysis, Sampson and Laub found evidence supporting
the developmental view. Their theory is known as age-graded theory because it recognizes that
different factors influence people as they go through the life course.

Sampson and Laub’s most important contribution is identifying the life events that enable
young offenders to desist from crime as they mature. Two critical turning points are marriage
and career. For example, adolescents who are at risk for crime can live conventional lives if they
can find good jobs and/ or achieve successful careers. Their success may hinge on a lucky
break. Even those who have been in trouble with the law may turn from crime if employers are
willing to give them a chance despite their records.

When they achieve adulthood, adolescents who had significant problems with the law
are able to desist from crime if they become attached to a spouse who supports and sustains
them, even when the spouse knows about their earlier trouble. Happy marriages are life
sustaining, and marital quality improves over time. Spending time in marital and family activities
also reduces exposure to deviant peers, which in turn reduces the opportunity to become
involved in delinquent activities. People who cannot sustain secure marital relations are less
likely to desist from crime.

Sampson and Laub’s age-graded theory is also supported by research that shows that
children who grow up in a two-parent family are likely to have happier marriages than children
who are the product of divorced or never-married parents. This finding suggests that the
marriage-crime association may be inter-generational. If people with marital problems are more
crime-prone, their children will suffer a greater long- term risk of marital failure and anti-social
activity.

A successful career inhibits crime by creating a stake in conformity. Why commit crime
when you are doing well at your job? The relationship is reciprocal. If people are chosen to be
employees, they return the favor by doing the best job possible. If they are chosen as spouses,
they blossom into devoted partners. In contrast, moving to a new neighborhood reduces social
capital by closing people off from long-term relationships.

Summary

The two opposing views are as follows: the classical world view and the positivist world
view. Delinquency theories that focus on the individual can be classified according to four major
groups. Choice theory holds that people have free will to control their actions. Trait theory holds
that personal and environmental factors dictate behavior choices--- - that delinquents do not
choose to commit crime freely but are influenced by forces beyond their control.

Biological theory, in disrepute for many years, has recently re-emerged in importance.
However, because biosocial theory has not been subjected to methodologically sound tests, the
results remain problematic. Psychological traits, such as personality and intelligence, have been
linked to delinquency.

Social structure theory holds that delinquent behavior is an adaptation to conditions that
predominate in lower-class environments. Social process theory holds that improper
socialization is the key to delinquency. According to social reaction theory, labeling and stigma
may also reinforce delinquency. Social conflict theory views delinquency as an inevitable result
of the class and ethnic conflict that pervades society.

Developmental theory looks at multiple factors derived from a number of structural

process theories. Examples include the social developmental theory, interactional theory, and
age-graded theory. These theories find that events that take place over the life course influence
delinquent choices. The cause of crime constantly changes as people mature.
 CHAPTER IV

FACTORS AND CAUSES OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Juvenile delinquency is a term used to describe illegal actions by a minor. This term is
broad in range and can include everything from minor violations like skipping school to more
severe crimes such as burglary and violent actions.
Understanding why a minor commits a crime is essential to preventing future crimes
from happening. Addressing the issues that has led to the choices that the minor child has
made can help them change their actions in the future.
By addressing many of these issues at an early age, adults may be able to stop juvenile
delinquency from starting. If delinquency has already occurred, addressing these issues and
building protective barriers may allow the child to develop in a more secure environment and
avoid problems in the future as well as when they are adults.

4.1 FACTORS LEADING TO JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Many theories concerning the causes of juvenile crime center either on the
individual or on society as the major contributing influence. Theories focusing on the individual
suggest that crime engage in criminal behavior because they were not suitably penalized for
prior delinquent acts or that they have learned criminal behavior through interaction with others.

A person who becomes socially estranged may be more prone to commit a criminal
act. Theories focusing on the role of society in juvenile delinquency propose that children
commit crimes in reaction to their failure to rise above the socioeconomic status, or as a
repudiation of middle-class values. Most theories of juvenile delinquency have focused on
children from disadvantaged families, ignoring the fact that children from well off homes also
commit crimes. The latter may commit crimes because of the lack of sufficient parental control,
delays in achieving adult status, and hedonistic tendencies. All theories, however, are uncertain
and are subject to evaluation.

Changes in the social structure may indirectly affect juvenile crime rates. For
example, alterations in the economy that leads to fewer job opportunities for youth and rising
unemployment in general make gainful employment increasingly difficult for young people to
obtain. The resulting dissatisfaction may in turn lead more youths into criminal behavior.

Family structure has also experienced modifications within the last 25 years. More
families consist of one-parent or two working parents, as a result, children are likely to have
less supervision at home than was common in the traditional family structure. This lack of
parental supervision is contemplated to be an influence on juvenile crime rates. Other particular
and identifiable causes of delinquent acts include frustration or failure in school, the increased
availability of drugs and alcohol, and the growing incidence of the child abuse and child neglect.
All these circumstances tend to intensity the probability of a child committing a criminal act,
although a direct causal relationship has not been established.
 a. Poor School Attendance

Poor school attendance is one of the top factors contributing to delinquency. School is
not only a place to learn and grow; it is also a structured routine that provides children with a
goal to accomplish each day. The routine of getting up, getting prepared, attending school,
completing the work, and returning home each day establishes a routine that is a basis for good
choices in the future. Children who are not encouraged to learn this type of routine are losing
out on establishing good habits. They are also experiencing a lot of free time that can be used
to “learn” about other things that will not enhance their lives or their futures. Failure to accept the
routine of attending school actually instills in children that they do not have to comply with
societal norms and that they can do as they please.

b. Poor Educational Standards

The type of school that a child attends may also contribute to their delinquency.
Overcrowded and underfunded schools tend to lack discipline and order. The chaos often
experienced in these schools lead children to act more defensively because they are scared by
their surroundings. Parental involvement in school work and school based activities has been
found to be a very large deterrent for delinquent activities. When an adult is active in the lives of
a child, that child is more prone to perform well in school and social surroundings because they
know that the adult will see their actions.

c. Violence In The Home

One of the largest contributing factors to delinquency is violence in the home.
Every Tulsa juvenile criminal defense attorney will tell you that when a child is subjected to
violence, they are in turn violent people. Lashing out at others for the violence they experience
at home is very common. Teens subjected to violent actions, or those who witness it to others,
are more likely to act out their fears and frustrations. They often have a “don’t care” attitude and
this allows them to get into trouble more easily.

d. Violence In Their Social Circles

If the neighborhood is in which a child lives is violent, the children will have a tendency to
be more prone to delinquency. Many people describe this as street survival methods because
the child gets into trouble as a way to stay out of trouble from area gang members or violent
people. In many cases, when you remove the child from this type of situation, their tendency for
delinquent actions is removed.

e. Peer Pressure
Similar to neighborhood pressures, peer pressure from direct acquaintances can have
an effect on how a juvenile reacts to bad situations. If all of their friends are committing
delinquent acts, the child may feel pressured to do the same to be accepted. The best way to
avoid this type of situation is to be actively involved with who your child is hanging out with on a
regular basis. Know their friends. Know about their friends’ parents. This not only instills
confidence in your child to do the right thing, but it can also help parents keep their children
away from bad influences.

f. Socioeconomic Factors
Juvenile delinquency is more common in poorer neighborhoods. While all
neighborhoods are not exempt from delinquent activities, it is believed they happen more in
areas where children feel they must commit crimes to prosper. Theft and similar crimes may
actually be a result of necessity and not that of just a petty crime. The only true help for this
situation is to make sure that children in these areas have access to what they need and
understand that they do not have to commit a crime to get ahead in life.

g. Substance Abuse
Substance abuse in a home or by the child is a very common cause for delinquency.
Children who are exposed to substance abuse often do not have the necessities they need to
thrive and are forced to find these necessities in other ways. Others, who become dependent on
a substance may also need to commit crimes to sustain their habit. Counseling and treatment
for this type of situation is the only real remedy to help these children. This type of situation can
cause their self-worth to deteriorate and allow them to commit acts that they would not
otherwise have considered.

h. Lack Of Moral Guidance

Parental or adult influence is the most important factor in deterring delinquency. When a
parent or other adult interacts with the child and shows them what is acceptable behavior and
what is considered wrong, the child is more likely to act in a way that is not delinquent. It is very
important for a child to have a bond with a good adult who will influence their actions and show
them the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Even if your child has committed
an act of delinquency, their lives are not over. You, as their caregiver have the chance to turn
around their lives and show them how to change their ways.
It starts with hiring a quality Tulsa juvenile criminal defense attorney so that they can receive a
fair trial. Once they have gone through this process, as a caregiver, you can begin to change
the influences in the child’s life so that they can start fresh and go into adulthood with a clean
slate.
i.Poverty
Although it is considered passé to say poverty causes crime, the fact is that nearly 22
percent of children under the age of eighteen live in poverty. Poverty, in absolute terms, is more
common for children than for any other group in society. Ageism, they say, is the last frontier in
the quest for economic equality. Adolescents from lower socioeconomic status (SES) families
regularly commit more violence than youth from higher SES levels. Social isolation and
economic stress are two main products of poverty, which has long been associated with a
number of D-words like disorganization, dilapidation, deterioration, and despair. Pervasive
poverty undermines the relevance of school and traditional routes of upward mobility. The way
police patrol poverty areas like an occupying army only reinforces the idea that society is the
enemy whom they should hate. Poverty breeds conditions that are conducive to crime.
4.2 CAUSES OF BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS

A. PREDISPOSING FACTORS – Internal propensities which may not be considered as a

criminal act unless the attempt was made.

B. PRECIPITATING FACTORS – Refers to conditions and elements which provokes crimes or

factors such as personal problems, curiosity, ignorance, necessities and diseases.

4.3 SPECIFIC FACTORS AFFECTING DELINQUENCY

Over the years, criminologists have put forth a wide variety of motives for what
causes crime. People who deal with young people cite the following root conditions: poverty,
family factors, the environment, media influence, and declining social morality. These will be
taken up in order:
 A. FAMILY – the basic unit of society, whose main responsibility is to provide the
basic necessities of the child as well as to give emotional, spiritual, moral, intellectual and social
basic to its members particularly the children and the primary social agency tasked with the
significant task of rearing the youth.

Family Factors

One of the most reliable indicators of juvenile crime is the proportion of fatherless
children. The primary role of fathers in our society is to provide economic stability, act as role
models, and alleviate the stress of mothers. Marriage has historically been the great civilizer of
male populations, channeling predatory instincts into provider/protector impulses. Economically,
marriage has always been the best way to multiply capital, with the assumption being that girls
from poorer families better themselves by marrying upward. Then, of course, there are all those
values of love, honor, cherish, and obey encapsulated in the marriage tradition. Probably the
most important thing that families impart to children is the emphasis upon individual
accountability and responsibility in the forms of honesty, commitment, loyalty, respect and work
ethic.

Most of the broken home literature, for example, shows only weak or trivial effects, like
skipping school or home delinquency. Another area, the desistance literature, shows only that
children from two-parent families age-out of crime earlier. In fact, there is more evidence
supportive of the hypothesis that a stepparent in the home increases delinquency, or that abuse
and neglect in fully-intact families lead to a cycle of violence. To complicate matters, there are
significant gender, race, and SES interaction effects. Females from broken homes commit
certain offenses while males from broken homes commit other kinds of offenses. Few
conclusions can be reached about African American males, but tentative evidence suggests
stepparenting can be of benefit to them. SES differences actually show that the broken home is
less important in producing delinquency among lower-class youth than youth from higher social
classes. Most research results are mixed, and no clear causal family factors have emerged to
explain the correlation between fatherlessness and crime, but it is certainly unfair to blame
single mothers, their parenting skills, or their economic condition for what are obviously more
complex social problems.
The ideal criteria for a normal home include the following:

 Structural completeness
 Economic Security
 Cultural Conformity
 Moral conformity
 Physical and Psychological Normality
 Functional or Emotional adequacy

The factors which may be lead to juvenile delinquency:

 Faulty development of the child

 Lack of parental guidance
  Parental rejection
 Broken homes
 Lack of love
 Unfair treatment
 Too harsh discipline by or both of the parents
 Too lenient discipline by either or both of the parents
 Parent’s indifference to their child

B. Environment – The culture, norms and behavior of the child’s surrounding may
very well influence the upbringing of the child especially throughout their formative years and
such misbehavior learned will definitely carried out until a child’s maturity or entrance to
adolescent world.

Behavior modification by means of imitation as brought about by the environment is as follows.

a. Rampant drug addiction

b. Vices such as alcoholism and gambling
c. Association with criminal groups and gangs
d. Impulse of fear and resentment
e. Crime inducing situations and presence of hazards
f. Attractive nuisances prevalent in the environment

C. School – learning institutions are vital to proper child development, it represents

time second home and represents the instrument for the training of young person’s which
should provide goals, values and academic growth which will be necessary to transform the raw
mind of the child to be able to bring them up as productive, law abiding and responsible citizen
of the republic.

Instances of deviant conduct of children attributed to school inadequacy are as follows:

a. Truancy
b. Membership in fraternities and sororities
c. Lack of facilities for curricular and extracurricular activities
d. Failure of mentors in character development of the student
e. Methods being used which create the conditions of frustration and failure on the part of
the students
f. Corruption

4.4 SOCIALIZATION PROCESSES

Emphasis should be placed on preventive policies facilitating the successful

socialization and integration of all children and young persons, in particular through the family,
the community, peer groups, school, vocational training and the world of work, as well as
through voluntary organizations. Due respect should be given to the proper personal
development of children and young persons, and they should be accepted as full and equal
partners in socialization and integration processes.
4.5 GENERAL PREVENTION

Comprehensive prevention plans should be institute at every level of Government

and include the following:

(a) In- depth analysis of the problem and inventories of programs, services, facilities and
resources available;
(b) Well –defined responsibilities for the qualified agencies, institution and personnel
concerned in preventive efforts;
(c) Machinery for the suitable co- ordination of prevention efforts between government and
non-governmental agencies;
(d) Policies, programs and strategies based on analytical studies to be continuously
monitored and carefully appraised in the course of implementation;
(e) Methods for effectively reducing the opportunity to commit delinquent acts;
(f) Community participation through a wide range of services and programs;
(g) Close interdisciplinary co-operation between national, state, provincial and local
governments, with the involvement of the private sector representative citizens of the
community to be served, labor, child- care health education, social, law enforcement and
judicial agencies in taking concerted action to prevent juvenile delinquency and youth
crime;
(h) Youth participation in delinquency prevention policies and processes, including recourse
to community resources, youth self-help, and victim compensation and assistance
programs;
(i) Specialized personnel at all levels.
CHAPTER V
 FAMILY CONDITIONS, AND THE ROLE OF THE PARENTS AND TEACHERS
AGAINST DELINQUENCY

5.1 DEFINITION OF TERMS

A Delinquent Youth – Is one below eighteen years old has committed a misdemeanor
but whose case has not been filed in court. He /she manifest behavior problems (e.g Hostility,
aggressiveness,. etc)

A Neglected Child – Is one who is unreasonably deprived for his/her basic needs for
survival such as food, clothing, shelter and or education.

A Physical Abused Child – Is one has been inflicted with non-accidental or unreasonable
physical injuries by parents, guardians or custodian to a degree which, if not immediately
remedied, could seriously impair the child’s growth and development or result in permanent
disability or even death.

A Psychological Abused Child – Is one has been inflicted with unreasonable punishment
other than physical punishment through excessive verbal assault or non-verbal harassment.

A Sexual Abused Child – Is one who has been involved in a sexual activity with an adult (
or any older or bigger) where the child was used as sexual object for gratification of the older
person’s need and desire. This is includes children – victims of rape and incest.

A Working Child – Is one engaged in any economic activity who suffers serious treats
his/her protection, health, safety and moral well-being.

A Youth Offender – Is one below eighteen years old but over 9 years old upon
commission of a criminal offense, and whose case has been filed in court.

Abandonment - The most common legal grounds for termination of parental rights, also
a form of child abuse in most states. Sporadic visits, a few phone calls, or birthday cards are not
sufficient to maintain parental rights. Fathers who manifest indifference toward a pregnant
mother are also viewed as abandoning the child when it is born.

Abuse - Term for acts or omissions by a legal caretaker. Encompasses a broad range of
acts, and usually requires proof of intent.

Adjudication - The phase of a delinquency hearing similar to a "trial" in adult criminal

court, except that juveniles have no right to a jury trial, a public trial, or bail.
Administrative Procedure - Any of the processes involving enforcement of care, custody,
or support orders by an executive agency rather than by courts or judges.

Adoption - A legal relationship between two people not biologically related, usually
terminating the rights of biological parents, and usually with a trial "live-in" period. Once an
adoption is finalized, the records are sealed and only the most compelling interests will enable
disclosure of documents.

Adoption And Safe Families Act Of 1997 - Moves children more quickly into permanent,
adoptive placements, rather than letting them languish in foster homes.

An Abandoned Child – Is one without proper paternal care and has been abandoned by
his/her parents for the period of at least (6) consecutive months. This includes of founding.

An Exploited Child – Is one who has been included or force by parents/guardians or other
persons or circumstance to indulge in activities which endanger his moral, emotional and social
development. This includes children victims of prostitution and pedophiles.

Best Interests Of The Child Rule - Legal doctrine establishing court as determiner of best
environment for raising child. An alternative to the Parens Patriae Doctrine.

Breed v. Jones (1975) - Case allowing second prosecution in adult court for conviction in
juvenile court, based on idea that first conviction was a "civil" matter.

Case Law - Law established by the history of judicial decisions in cases decided by judges,
as opposed to common law which is developed from the history of judicial decisions and social
customs.

Child Protection Action - The filing of legal papers by a child welfare agency when its
investigation has turned up evidence of child abuse. This is a civil, rather than criminal, charge
designed to take preventive action (like appointment of a Guardian ad litem) for at-risk children
before abuse occurs.

Child Support – the act of being responsible for enforcing child support obligations.

Child Victims' And Child Witness' Rights - A 1990 federal law allowing courts to take
extraordinary steps in protecting the emotional health of any child called to testify in a
courtroom.

Children – As defined in RA 7610, the Special Protection of Children against Abuse,

Exploitation and Discrimination Act. Children refers to persons below eighteen (18) of age.

Children in Especial Difficult Circumstances (CEDC) – Are children who are abandoned,
neglected, abused and exploited, disable, victims of prostitution and pedophiles, delinquent,
youth offenders and drug dependents, street children, working children, children in situation of
armed conflict, children in cultural communities, and children victims of naturals disasters.

Children in Situation of Armed Conflict (CSAC) – Are children who have been displaced
as a result of violent confrontation between two opposing forces. This includes children
temporarily sheltered in evacuation centers unaccompanied by their parents, and those who
were arrested for reasons related to armed conflict, whether as combatants, courtiers, guide or
spies.

CHINS (CHild In Need of Supervision) - A term applied to status offenders adjudicated in

juvenile court.

Civil Protection Order - A form of protective custody in which a child welfare or police agency
order an adult suspected of abuse to leave the home.

Custodial Confinement - Court order for placement in a secure facility, separate from adults,
for the rehabilitation of a juvenile delinquent.

Delinquency Proceeding - Court action to officially declare someone a juvenile delinquent. A

"delinquent" is defined as under the age of majority who has been convicted in juvenile court of
something that would be classified as a crime in adult court.

Dependent - Anyone under the care of someone else. A child ceases to be a dependent
when they reach the age of emancipation.

Deshaney v. Winnebago County (1989) - Case limiting extent by which government

exercises parens patriae power.

Disposition - Phase of delinquency proceeding similar to "sentencing" phase of adult trial.

The judge must consider alternative, innovative, and individualized sentences rather than
imposing standard sentences.

Diversion - An alternative to trial decided upon at intake to refer the child to counseling or
other social services.

Emancipation - Independence of a minor from his or her parents before reaching age of
majority

Equal Protection – A clause requiring government to treat similarly situated people the same
or have good reason for treating them differently. Compelling reasons are considered to exist for
treating children differently.

Family Immunity Doctrine - Legal doctrine preventing unemancipated children from suing
their parents.

Family Purpose Doctrine - Legal doctrine holding parents liable for injuries caused by a
child's negligent driving or other actions.
Foster Care - Temporary care funded via Federal-State pass-through and arranged by a
child welfare agency in order to allow receipt of adequate food, clothing, shelter, education, and
medical treatment for anyone raising a child that is not their own.
 Guardian Ad Litem - Phrase meaning "For the Proceeding" referring to adults who look
after the welfare of a child and represent their legal interests.

Guardianship - Court order giving an individual or organization legal authority over a child. A
guardian of the person is usually an individual and the child is called a ward. A guardian of the
estate is usually an organization, like a bank, which manages the property and assets of a
child's inheritance. Guardians are usually compensated for their services.

Illegitimacy - Being born to unmarried parents. The law assumes legitimacy via a married
mother's husband, whether or not this is the true father. Illegitimacy status limits inheritance
rights.

In Loco Parentis - Teachers, administrators, and babysitters who are viewed as having
some temporary parental rights & obligations.

In Re Gault (1967) – (US) - Case that determined the Constitution requires a separate
juvenile justice system with certain standard procedures and protections, but still not as many
as in adult systems.

Intake - Procedure prior to preliminary hearing in which a group of people (intake officer,
police, probation, social worker, parent and child) talk and decide whether to handle the case
formally or informally.

Judgment - Any official decision or finding of a judge or administrative agency hearing officer
upon the respective rights and claims of parties to an action; also known as a decree or order.
Kent v. U.S. (1966) - Case requiring a special hearing before any transfers to adult court.

Maternal Preference Rule - Legal doctrine granting mothers custodial preference after a
divorce.

Neglect - Parental failure to provide a child with basic necessities when able to do so.
Encompasses a variety of forms of abuse that do not require the element of intent.

Parens Patria – A doctrine in which the state acts as the father of the citizens. It is a legal
doctrine establishing "parental" role of state over welfare of its citizens, especially its children. A
19th century idea first articulated in Prince v. Massachusetts (1944).

Parole - Release of a juvenile delinquent from custodial confinement prior to expiration of

sentence; sometimes called aftercare.
Paternity - Result of lawsuit forcing a reluctant man to assume obligations of fatherhood.
Blood and DNA tests showing a 98 or 99 percent likelihood are the standard. Laws vary widely
in terms of statutes of limitations and when paternity actions will not be allowed (estoppel).

PD 603 – Also known as the “Child and Youth Welfare Code”.

 Pleading - In juvenile court, a plea of "not guilty" will move the case to adjudication, and a
plea of "guilty" or "nolo contendere" will result in waiver of the right to trial. State procedures
vary widely in how intelligent and voluntary pleas are accepted.

Preliminary Hearing - The bringing of a juvenile before a magistrate or judge in which

charges are formally presented. Similar to an arraignment in adult court, and also called
"advisory hearings" or "initial appearances" in some state juvenile justice systems.

Preventive Detention - Keeping a juvenile in custody or under a different living arrangement

until the time when an adjudication can take place. Upheld in Schall v. Martin (1984), but the
right to speedy trial requires the dropping of charges if an unreasonable amount of time is spent
in preventive detention.

Protective Custody - Emergency, temporary custody by a child welfare agency, police

agency, or hospital for reasons of immanent danger to the child. A hearing must be held for the
benefit of the parents within a few days.

Psychological Parent Doctrine - Legal doctrine granting custody to the parent whom the
child feels the greatest emotional attachment to.

RA 9334 - “Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.”

RA No. 8369 - “Family Courts Act of 1997”.

RA No. 9262 – “Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004”

RA No.7610 – Otherwise known as the, “Special Protection of Children against Abuse,

Exploitation and Discrimination Act”.

RA No.7658 – An Act prohibiting the employment of Children below 15 years of age in

public and private undertakings amending for this purpose Section 12, Article VIII of R.A. 7610

RA No.8044 - “Otherwise known as the Youth in Nation – Building Act”.

RA. No. 9231 – An Act providing for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor and
affording stronger protection for the working child, amending for this purpose RA 7610, as
amended.
Restitution - A disposition requiring a defendant to pay damages to a victim. The law
prohibits making restitution a condition of receiving probation. Poor families cannot be deprived
of probation simply because they are too poor to afford restitution. Some states do not allow
families to pay restitution.

Rule Of Sixteen – (US) - Federal and state laws that prohibit anyone under age 16 from
employment.
 Stanford v. Kentucky (1989) - Case in which it was determined constitutional to execute
juveniles between the ages of 16-18, but unconstitutional if they committed crimes while under
age 16. Won by a narrow majority, as in the 1988 case of Thompson v. Oklahoma which relied
upon "standards of decency".

Status Offense - An activity illegal when engaged in by a minor, but not when done by an
adult. Examples include truancy, curfew, running away, or habitually disobeying parents.

Stepparent - A spouse of a biological parent who has no legal rights or duties to the child
other than those which have been voluntarily accepted.

Surrogate Parent - A parent who provided an egg, sperm, or uterus with an intent of giving
the child up for adoption to specific parties.

Tender Years Doctrine - Legal doctrine that unless the mother is "unfit", very young children
should be placed in custody with their mother following a divorce.

Termination Hearings - Process for legally severing the parent-child relationship. Initiated by
the filing of a petition in family court, and almost always brought forth by a child welfare agency.
Requires a finding of "unfitness" and a determination of the best interests of the child.

The Juvenile Justice System – Is composed of five components/pillars. The Police. The
prosecution and the community which are involved in handling youth offenders and other
CEDC.

Unfit Parent - A temporary or permanent termination of parental rights in the best interest of
the child usually for reasons of abandonment, abuse, or neglect, but also including mental
illness, addiction, or criminal record. Poverty alone and character flaws are prohibited by law
from being indicators of "unfitness".
5.2 THE ROLE OF FAMILY AND OTHER SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

1. Family – its role

The family is first and the most basic institution in our society for developing the
child’s potential, in all aspects like emotional, intellectual, moral and spiritual, as well as
physical and social.
The family is the primary institution that molds a child to either a law-abiding person or
delinquent. The effects of pathology social relations in the home are to a grate extent influence
anti-social behaviors. This means that the home can be potent force of either good or evil.

The Broken Home

 Broken home suggest of parents on the welfare to the children. Many delinquent children
come from broken home if not a problematic environment in the home. This would indicate that
broken home could trigger the problems in ineffective house hold management.

2. The Environment
Unless we are willing to believe that testosterone (a male stimulation-seeking hormone)
causes crime, the only feasible explanations left are environmental ones. The heredity-
environment debate in explaining juvenile crime is shaped by divided opinions about what
factors are really important: genetic tendencies, birth complications, and brain chemicals, on
one side; and being a victim of abuse, witnessing domestic battering, and learned behaviors, on
the other side. The idea that all behavior is learned behavior is associated with environmental
explanations. Sure, everyone has a potential for violence, but we learn how to do it (in all its
different forms) from observing others do it. In fact, most of us are suckers for observing
violence, glamorizing it to the point where we like more and different forms of it everyday, in the
news, on TV shows, in action movies. So when you're talking about reducing the need to see
violence on TV, you're really talking biology or psychology. The study of environmental factors,
on the other hand, is concerned primarily with social considerations. While violence may be part
of everyone's behavioral repertoire, the temptations (triggers, cues) to do it are embedded
(lodged, locked, firmly put in place) with social networks (relationships and situations) that more
or less make this kind of behavior seem acceptable at the moment.
The unfortunate truth is that, in many places, there are a growing number of irresistible
temptations and opportunities for juveniles to use violence. Brute, coercive force has become an
acceptable substitute, even a preferred substitute, for ways to resolve conflicts and satisfy
needs. Think of it as the schoolyard bully who says "Meet me in the parking lot at 4:30". Under
circumstances like these, the peer pressure and reward systems are so arranged that fighting
seems like the only way out.
Now think for a moment about the crucial importance of peer groups: whether there are
people who would respect you for standing up to fight, or whether there are people important to
you that would definitely not approve of your fighting. What environmental learning theorists are
saying is that there are fewer and fewer friends available to help you see the error of your ways
in deciding to fight.
Most of the recent research in this area revolves around "neighborhood" factors, such as
the presence of gangs, illicit drug networks, high levels of transiency, lack of informal supports,
etc. Gang-infested neighborhoods, in particular, have no effective means of providing informal
supports that would help in resisting the temptations to commit crime. Such neighborhoods
would more likely have an informal encouragement policy, with five or more places where you
could buy a gun and drugs available to give you the courage to use the gun. Firearms- and
drug-related homicides have increased over 150% in recent years, and the clearest drug-
violence connection is for selling drugs because illicit drug distribution networks are extremely
violent.
In such neighborhoods, families, school authorities, and even community organizations
are often incapable of providing any protection for children. There are no peer-level social
supports to reinforce the conventional lifestyles that these agencies want their children to
emulate. The reality of street life, its illicit economy, and quick and easy pathways to success
and prestige through violence and crime all offer rewards that offset the risks associated with
these activities. And, even if a child experiences the risks of street life firsthand, like by getting
shot or stabbed, this only reinforces the child's desire for more exposure to the learning of street
life, to do better next time by listening more closely to delinquent peers and not to the advice of
legitimate authorities. Victimization and perpetration go hand in hand. This is what is meant
when criminologists say that the best predictor of future delinquency is past behavior, or age of
onset. The strongest (primacy) effect is when violence is modeled, encouraged, and rewarded
for the first time. It determines the type of friends one chooses, which in turn, determines what
behaviors will be subsequently modeled, established, and reinforced.

3. Environment

It is where the child influenced after his first highly formative years. Years in the
community turn to become delinquent with companions. Youth today accuse those ahead of
them for failure to define how to live both honorably and successfully in a world that is changing
too rapidly for anyone to comprehend. Together they now becomes a victim of their own
environment, their attitude, dress, tastes, ambitions, behavior are imitated or have been already
influence by those anti-social act recognized in their environment.

a. Association with criminal groups

b. Alcoholism and drug addiction
c.Impulse or fear.
d. Crime inducting situation that caused Criminalistics tendencies.
e. Imitated instinct like selfishness, violence and anti-social wishes.

Bad Neighborhood

Bad neighborhood refers to areas or places in which dwelling or housing conditions are
dilapidated, unsanitary, and unhealthy which are detrimental to the moral, health, and safety of
the populace. It is commonly characterized by overcrowding with disintegrated and unorganized
inhabitants and other close relatives.

4. The School

Part of broader social process for behavior influence is the school. It is said that the
school is an extension of the home having the strategic position to control crime and
delinquency. It exercises authority over very child as a constituent.

School- is a public instrument for training young people

Vices- is a wrong, degrading or immoral habit or practice accustomed to the child.

 Truancy- means absence without causes for more than twenty school days, not
necessarily consecutive. It shall be the duty of the teacher in charge to report to parents
the absence of the child the moment these exceed five school days.

Psychopathic Personality – It is characterized by lack of response, lack of conscience,

deficient feeling of affection to others and aggression to environment and other people.
It is, therefore, more directly accessible to change through the development of a new
resources and policies. And since is the principal institutions for the development of a
basic commitment by young people to the goals and values of our society, it is
imperative that it be provided with the resources to complete with illegitimate attraction
for youth people’s responsibility to its youth. And some of the instances of delinquent
conduct to the school – child relationship are the following:

a. Failure of the school in character development

b. Use methods that create the conditions of failure of frustrations on the part of
the students
c. Truancy
d. Lack of facilities for curricular and extra curricular activities.

5. Media Influence

Popular explanations of juvenile crime often rest on ideas about the corrupting influence
of television, movies, music videos, video games, rap/hip hop music, or the latest scapegoat du
jour, computer games like Doom or Quake. The fact is that TV is much more pervasive, and has
become the de facto babysitter in many homes, with little or no parental monitoring. Where
there is strong parental supervision in other areas, including the teaching of moral values and
norms, the effect of prolonged exposure to violence on TV is probably quite minimal. When TV
becomes the sole source of moral norms and values, this causes problems. Our nation's
children watch an astonishing 19,000 hours of TV by the time they finish high school, much
more time than all their classroom hours put together since first grade. By eighteen, they will
have seen 200,000 acts of violence, including 40,000 murders. Every hour of prime time
television carries 6-8 acts of violence. Most surveys show that around 80% of American parents
think there is too much violence on television.
Most of the scientific research in this area revolves around tests of two hypotheses: the
catharsis effect, and the brutalization effect; but I am giving this area of research more credit
than it deserves because it is not that neatly organized into two hypotheses. Catharsis means
that society gets it out of their system by watching violence on TV, and brutalization means we
become so desensitized it doesn't bother us anymore, but there are also "imitation" hypotheses,
"sleeper" effects, and lagged-time correlations. The results of research in this area are too
mixed to give any adequate guidance, and it may well be that social science is incapable of
providing us with any good causal analysis in this area. Only anecdotal evidence of a few cases
of direct influence exist.
Since the early 1990s, a number of films, music videos, and rap music lyrics have come
out depicting gang life, drugs, sex, and violence. Watching or listening to these items gives you
the feeling that the filmmakers or musicians really know what they're talking about and tell it like
it is, but there have been unfortunate criminogenic effects. In 1992, for example, 144 law
enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty. That year, four juveniles wounded Las Vegas
police officers and the rap song, Cop Killer, was implicated. At trial, the killers admitted that
listening to the song gave them a sense of duty and purpose. During apprehension, the killers
sung the lyrics at the police station. Another case involved a Texas trooper killed in cold blood
while approaching the driver of a vehicle with a defective headlight. The driver attempted a
temporary insanity defense based on the claim he felt hypnotized by songs on a 2 Pac album,
that the anti-police lyrics "took control, devouring [him] like an animal, compelling his
subconscious mind to kill the approaching trooper". Two of the nation's leading psychiatrists
were called as expert witnesses in support of this failed defense.

6. The Mass Media

The media is the best institution for information dissemination thereby giving the public
necessary need to know, and do help shape everyday views about crime and its control.

Social Morality
It has become prevalent, especially among the slacker generations, GenX and Gen13,
to join the old WWII generation in self-righteous, totally gratuitous Sixties-bashing, as if all our
social problems, especially our declining social morality, started with the free-for-all, "any thing
goes" hippie movement of the 1960s. This time period is often blamed for giving birth to rising
hedonism, the questioning of authority, unbridled pursuit of pleasure, the abandonment of family
responsibility, demand for illicit drugs, and a number of other social ills. Sometimes, even the
AIDS epidemic is blamed on the 1960s, although such accusers are off by about two decades.
To sixties-bashers, today's juvenile "super predators" are nothing but a long line of
troubled youngsters who have grown up in more extreme conditions of declining social morality
than the generation before them. Their thinking is that each generation since the sixties has
tried hard to outdo one another in expressing the attitude that "nothing really matters",
culminating in the present teenage regard for angst and irony so common in contemporary
culture.

7. The Church

Religious is a positive force for good in the community and an influence against crime
and delinquency.

The Church influences people’s behavior with the emphasis on morals and life’s highest
spiritual value’s the worth and dignity of the individual, and respect for person’s live and
properties, and generate the full power to oppose crime and delinquency.
5.3 RIGHTS OF THE CHILDREN AND OTHER PERTINENT LAWS PROTECTING THEM
Rights of Children

- Rights to equality of race, color, religion, sex, and nationality.

- Rights to a name and nationality.
- Rights to grow up in the family environment.
- Rights to adequate means of survival, food, clothing, shelter and medical care.
- Rights to free education, play and recreation.
- Rights to express his views.
- Protection from cruelty, neglect and all forms of exploitation.
- Protection from prosecution and to an upbringing in the spirit of worldwide brotherhood
and peace.

Article 190 of PD 603 – also known as the “Child and Youth Welfare Code” as amended
stipulated the duty of the concerned law enforcement agency to take the youth offender,
immediately after his apprehension, to the proper medical or health officer for a thorough
physical and mental examination.

Rights of Child

All children shall be entitled to the rights herein in set forth without distinction as to legitimacy,
sex, social, status, religious, political antecedents and other factors.

1. Every child is endowed with the dignity and with of human being with the moment of his
conception as generally accepted in medical parlance, and has, therefore, the right to be
born well.
2. Every child has the right to a wholesome family life that will provide him love, care and
understanding, guidance and counseling and moral and material security.
The independent or abandoned child shall be provided with the nearest substitute for
home.
3. Every child has the right to a well-rounded development of his personality to the end
that he may become a happy, useful and active member of society.
The gifted child shall be given opportunity and encourage to develop his special talents.
The emotionally disturbed or socially maladjusted child shall be treated with sympathy
and understanding, and shall be entitled to treatment and competent care.
The physical or mentally handicapped child is given the treatment, education and care
required by his particular education.
4. Every child has the right to a balanced diet, adequate clothing, sufficient shelter, proper
medical attention, and all the basic physical requirements of a healthy.
5. Every child has the right to brought up in an atmosphere of morality and rectitude for the
enrichment and the strengthening of his character.
6. Every child has the right to an education commensurate with his abilities and to
development of his skills for the improvement of his capacity for service to himself and to
his fellowmen.
 7. Every child has the right to full opportunities for safe and wholesome recreation and
activities, individual as well as social, for the wholesome use of his leisure hours.
8. Every child has the right to protection against exploitation, improper influences, hazards
and other condition or other circumstances prejudicial to his physical, mental, emotional,
social and moral development. Underscoring supplied.
9. Every child has the right to live in a community and social that can offer him an
environment free from pernicious and influences and conducive to the promotion of his
health and the cultivation of his disable treats and attributes.
10. Every child has the right to the care assistance and protection of the state, particularly
when his parents or guardians fail or are unable to provide him with his fundamental
needs for growth, development, and improvement.
11. Every child has right to an efficient and honest government that will deepen his faith and
democracy and inspire him with the morality of the constituted authorities both in there
public and private lives.
12. Every child has the right to grow up in a free individual, in an atmosphere of peace,
understanding, tolerance, and universal brotherhood and with the determination to
contribute his share in the building of a better world.

5.4 DUTIES OF PARENTS

1. To give affection, companionship and understanding

2. To extent to him the benefits of moral guidance, self- discipline and religious instruction
3. To inculcate in him the value of industry, thrift and self-reliance
4. To supervise his activities, including his recreation.
5. To stimulate his interest in civic affairs, teach him the duties of citizenship, and
development his commitment to his country.
6. To advise him properly on any matter affecting his development and well being
7. To always set a good example
8. To provide him with adequate support

Support includes:

a. Food or substance
b. Dwelling or shelter
c. Clothing
d. Medical attendance
e. Education
f. Transportation
g. To administer his property, if any according to his best interest.

Parents and guardians are responsible for the damage or torts (an injury or wrong done to
someone) caused by the child under their authority on according with the civil code.

Criminal liability shall attach to any parents and shall be punishable with imprisonment from
six months or fine not exceeding five hundred pesos, or both, for any act by then in any of the
following manner.
 1. Conceals or abandoned the child with intent to make such child lose his civil status.
2. Abandons the child to another person for valuable consideration
3. Sells or abandoned the child to another person for valuable consideration
4. Neglects the child by not giving him the education which the family’s station in life and
financial, conditions permit.
5. Fails or refuses, without justifiable ground, to enroll the child in any educational
institution
6. Causes, abates, or permits the truancy of the child from the school where he is enrolled.
7. Improperly exploits the child by using him, directly or indirectly, for purposes of begging
and other acts which are inimical to his interest and welfare.
8. Inflicts cruel and unusual punishment upon the child or deliberately subjects his to
indignation and other excessive chastisements that embarrass or humiliate him.
9. Causes of encourage the child to lead an immoral or dissolute life.
10. Permits the child to possess, handle, and carry deadly weapons, regardless of its
ownership.
11. Allows or requires the child to drive without a license which the parents know to have
been illegally procured.

5.5. PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO.603 - THE CHILD AND YOUTH WELFARE CODE
(December 10, 1974)

A nine years of age or under at the time of the offense shall be except from criminal
liability and shall be committed to the care of his or her father or mother, or nearest relative of
family friend in the discretion of the court and subjects to its supervision. The same shall be
done for a child over nine years and under fifteen years of age at the time of the commission of
the offense, unless he acted with discernment, in which case hell shall be proceeded against in
accordance with Article 192.

SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CHILDREN

1. A dependent child is one who is without a parent, guardian, or one whose parents
guardian or other custodian foe good cause desires to be relieve of his care and
custody;
2. An abandoned child is one who has no proper parental care or guardianship, or whose
parents or guardians have deserted him period of at least six continuous months.
3. A neglected child is one whose basic needs have been deliberately unattended or
inadequately attended.
4. Commitment or surrender of a child is the legal act of entrusting a child to the care of the
Department of Social Welfare or any duly licensed child placement agency or individual.

Art. 192 Suspension of Sentence and commitment of Youth Offender – If after hearing the
evidence in the proper proceedings, the court should find the youthful offender has committed
the acts charged against him the court shall determine the impossible penalty, including any
civil liability chargeable against him. However ,instead of pronouncing judgment of conviction,
the court shall suspend all further proceedings and shall commit such minor to the custody or
care of the Department of Social Welfare, or any training institution operated by the government,
or duly licensed agencies or any other responsible person, until he shall have reached twenty-
one years of age or, for a shorter period as the court may deem proper, after considering the
reports and recommendations of Department of Social Welfare or the agency or responsible
individual under whose care he has been committed.

The youthful offender shall be subject to visitation and supervision by a representative of

the Department of Social Welfare or any duly licensed agency or such other officer as the court
may designate subject to such conditions as it may prescribed.

5.6. CLASSIFICATION OF CHILD AND YOUTH WELFARE AGENCIES

1. A Child – caring Institution – is one that provides twenty – four residents group care
service for the physical, mental and spiritual well- being of nine or more mentally gifted,
dependent, abandoned, neglected, handicapped or disturbed children or youthful
offender.
An institution whose primarily purpose is education, is deemed to be child- caring
institution when nine or more of its pupil or wards in the ordinary course of events do not
return annually to homes of their parents or guardians for at least two months of summer
vacation.
2. A Detention Home – is a twenty four hour child- caring institution
Providing short term resident care for youthful offenders who are awaiting court
disposition of their cases or transfer to other agencies or jurisdiction.
3. A shelter – care Institution – is one that provides temporary protection and care to
children requiring emergency reception as a result of fortuitous events, abandonment by
parents, dangerous conditions of neglect or cruelty in the home, being without adult care
because of crisis in the family, or a court order holding them as material witnesses.
4. Receiving Homes – Are family type homes which provides temporary shelter from ten to
twenty days for children who shall during this period be under observation and study for
eventual placement by the Department of Social Welfare. The number of children in a
receiving home shall not at any time exceed nine; provided that no more than two of
them shall be under three year of age.
5. A Nursery is Child –Caring Institution – provides care for six or more children below six
years of age for all or part of a twenty- four hour day, except those duly licensed to offer
primarily medical and educational services.
6. A Maternal Homes is an Institution – or place of residence whose primarily function is to
give shelter and care to pregnant women and their infants before, during and after
delivery.
7. A Rehabilitation Center – is an institution that receives and rehabilitates youthful
offenders or other disturbed children.
8. A Reception and Study Center – Is an institution that receives for study, diagnosis and
temporary treatment, children who have behavioral problems for the purpose of
determining the appropriate care for them or recommending their permanent treatment
or rehabilitation on other child welfare agencies.
9. A Child- Placing Agency – is an institution or person assuming the care, custody,
protection and maintenance of children for placement in any child- caring institution or
 home or under the care and custody of any person or persons for purpose of adoption,
guardianship or foster care. The relatives of such child or children within the sixth degree
of consanguinity or affinity are executed from this definition.

5.7. CLASSIFICATION OF MENTAL RETARDATION (ART. 169)

1. Custodial Group – members of this group whose IQ’s to 25.
2. Trainable Group – members of this group consist with IQ’s from about 25 to 50.
3. Educable Group - members of this group consist with IQ’s from about 50 to 75.
4. Borderline Group - members of this group consist with IQ’s from about 75 to 89.

Art. 170. Physically Handicapped Children – Physically handicapped children are those who are
crippled, deaf-mute, blind or otherwise defective which restricts their means of action on
communication with others.

Art. 171. Emotionally Disturbed Children – Emotionally disturbed children are also who,
although not afflicted with insanity or mental defect are unable to maintain normal social
relations with others and the community in general due to emotional problems or complexes.

Art. 172. Mentally Ill Children – Mentally ill children are those with any behavioral disorder,
whether functional or organic, which is of such a degree of severity as to require professional
help or hospitalization.

Art. 176. Dismissal of the Case – it it’s shown to the satisfaction of the court that the youthful
offender whose sentence has been suspended, has behaved properly and has shown his
capability to be a useful member of the community, even before reaching the age of majority,
upon recommendation of the Department of Social Welfare, it shall dismiss the case and order
his final discharged.

Art. 200. Records of Proceeding – Where a youthful offender has been charged any city or
provincial fiscal or before any municipal judge and the charges have been ordered dropped, all
the records of the case shall be destroyed immediately thereafter.

5.8. REPUBLIC ACT NO.7610 – ( CHILD ABUSE LAW ) “ Special Protection of Children
Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.”

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR STRONGER DETERRENCE AND SPECIAL PROTECTION

AGAINST CHILD ABUSE, EXPLOITATION AND DISCRIMINATION AND OTHER PURPOSE.
Approve June 17,1992

If after the evidence in the proper proceedings the court should find the aforesaid child
committed the acts charged against him, the court shall determine the impossible penalty,
including any civil liability chargeable against him. However , instead of pronouncing judgment
of conviction, the court shall suspend all further proceedings and shall commit such child to the
custody or care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development or to any training
institution operated by the Government or duly- Licensed agencies or any other responsible
person, until he has reached eighteen (18) years of age or, for a shorter period as the court may
deem proper, after considering the reports and the recommendations of the Department of
Social Welfare and Development or the agency or responsible individual under whose care he
has been committed.

Who may file a Complaint?

a. Offended party
b. Parents or guardians;
c. Ascendants or collateral relative within the third degree of consanguinity;
d. Officer, social worker or representative of a licensed child- caring institution;
e. Officer or social worker of the Department of Social Welfare and Welfare;
f. Barangay Chairman, or
g. At least three (3) concerned responsible citizens where the violation occurred

Sec. 5 Child Prostitution and other Sexual Abuse – Children whether male or female for money,
or any another consideration or due to coercion or influence of any adult, syndicate or group,
indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct, are deemed to be children exploited in
prostitution and other sexual abuse.

Sec. 7. Child Trafficking – Any person who shall engage in trading and dealing with children, but
not limited to, the act of buying and selling of a child for money, or for any another
consideration, or barter, shall suffer the penalty of reclusion temporal or reclusion perpetua.
The penalty shall be imposed in its maximum period when the victim is under twelve (12) years
of age.

5.9. REPUBLIC ACT NO.9344 “JUVENILE JUSTICE AND WELFARE ACT OF 2006” – AN
ACT ESTABLISHING A COMPREHENSIVE JUVENILE JUSTICE AND WELFARE SYSTEM,
CREATING THE JUVENILE JUSTICE AND WELFARE COUNCIL UNDER THE
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, APPRIATING FUNDS THEREFORE AND FOR THERE
PURPOSE. (Approved: April 28, 2006)

The state shall apply the principles of restorative justice in all its laws, policies and
programs applicable to children in conflict with the law.

The state adopts the provision of the United Nation Standard minimum rules for the
administration of the juvenile justice or “Beijing Rules”, United Nation Guidelines for the
prevention of juvenile delinquency or the “Riyadh Guidelines” and the United Nation Rules for
Protection of Juveniles Deprive of liberty.

Sec.6 Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility – A child fifteen (15) years of age or under at the
time of the commission of the offense shall be exempt from liability. However, the child shall be
subject to an intervention program pursuant to Sec.20 of its act.

A child above fifteen (15) years but below eighteen years of age shall likewise be
exempt from liability and be subjected to an interview programs, unless he/she has acted with
discernment, in which case, such child shall be subject to the appropriate proceeding in
accordance with his act.

The exemption from criminal liability herein established does not include exemption from
liability, which shall be enforced in accordance with existing laws.

Sec. 7 . Determination of Age – The child conflict with the law shall enjoy the presumption of
minority. He/She shall enjoy all the rights of a child in conflict with the law until he/she is proven
to be eighteen (18) years old or older. The age of a child may be determined from the child’s
birth certificate, baptismal certificate or any other pertinent documents. In the absence of these
documents, age may be based on information from the child himself/ herself, testimonies of
another person’s, the physical appearance of the child and other relevant evidence. In case of
doubt as to the age of the child , it shall be resolved in his/her favor.

Sec. 8. Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council (JJWC) – A Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council
( JJWC) – is hereby created and attached to the department of Justice and placed its
administrative supervision. The JJWC shall chaired be resolved in his/her favor.

The JJWC shall be composed of representatives, whose ranks shall not be lower than
director, to be designated by the concerned heads on the following departments or agencies.

a. Department of Justice (DOJ)

b. Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
c. Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC)
d. Department of Education (DEpEd)
e. Department of Interior and Loxcal Government (DILG)
f. Commission on Human Rights (CHR)
g. National Youth Commission
h. Children in Conflict with the Law
i. Two representatives from NGO’s, one to be designated by Secretary of Justice and the
other to be de3signated by Secretary of Social Welfare and Development.

Sec. 21. Procedure of taking the Child into Custody. – From the moment a child is taken into
custody, the law enforcement officer shall:

a. Explain to the child in a simple language and in a dialect that he/she can understand
why he/she is being placed under custody and the offense that he/she allegedly
committed.
b. Inform the child of the reason for such custody and advice the child of his/her
constitutional rights in a language or dialect understood by him/her.
c. Properly identify himself/herself and present proper identification to the child.
d. Refrain from using vulgar or profane words and from sexually harassing or abusing or
making, sexual advances on the child in conflict with the law.
e. Avoid displaying or using any firearm, weapon, handcuffs or other instruments of force or
restraint, unless absolutely necessary and only after all methods of control have been
exhausted and have failed.
 f. Refrain from subjecting the child in conflict with the law to greater restraint than in
necessary for his/her apprehension;
g. Avoid violence or unnecessary force;
h. Determine the age of the child pursuant to section 7 of this Act;
i. Immediately but no later than eight (8) hours after apprehension, turn over custody of the
child to the Social welfare and Development Office or other accredited NGO’s and notify
the child’s parents/guardians the consequences of the child’s act with a view towards
counseling and rehabilitation, diversion from the criminal justice system, and reparation if
appropriate;
j. Take the child immediately to the proper medical and health officer for a through
physical and mental examination. The examination results shall be kept confidential
unless otherwise ordered by the Family Court. Whenever the medical treatment is
required, steps shall be made immediately undertaken to provide the same;
k. Ensure that should detention of the child in conflict with the law be necessary, the child
shall be secured in quarters separate from that of the opposite sex and adult offenders;
l. Record the following in the initial investigation;

Sec. 31 . Kinds of Diversion Programs – The diversion program shall include adequate socio-
cultural and psychological responses and services for the child. At the different stages where
diversion may be resorted to, the following diversion programs may be agreed upon, such as,
but not limited to:

At the level of Punong Barangay :

1. Restitution of Property
2. Reparation of the damage caused
3. Indemnification for consequential damages;
4. Written or oral apology
5. Care, guidance and supervision of others;
6. Counseling for the child in conflict with the law and the child’s family;
7. Attendance in training, seminars and lectures on;
a. Anger management skills
b. Problem solving and/ or conflict resolution skills;
c. Values formation; and
d. Other skills which will aid the child on dealing with situations which can lead to
repetition of the offense;
8. Participation in available community- based programs including community service or
9. Participation in education

At the level of the Law enforcement officer and prosecutor

1. Diversion programs specified under paragraphs (a) (1) to (a)(9) herein; and
2. Confiscation and reprimand or citation;

At the level of the appropriate court;

 1. Division programs specified under paragraphs (a) and (b) above;
2. Written or oral reprimand or citation
3. Fine ;
4. Payment of the cost of the proceedings; or
5. Institutional care and custody.

DEFINITION OF TERMS – The following terms as used in this act shall be defined as follows:

(A) “BAIL” – refers to the security given for the release of the person in custody of the law,
furnished by his/her or a bondsman to guarantee his/her appearance before any court.
Bail may be given in the form of corporate security; property bond, cash deposit, or
recognizance.
(B) “BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD” refers to the totality of the circumstances and
condition which are most congenial to the survival, protection and feelings of security of
the child and most encouraging to the child’s physical, psychological and emotional
development. It also means at least detrimental available alternative for safeguarding
the growth and development of the child.
(C) “CHILD” refers to a person under the age of eighteen (18)
(D) “CHILD AT RISK” refers to a child who is vulnerable to and at the risk of committing
criminal offenses because of personal, family and social circumstances such as but
limited to, the following:
1. Being abused by any person through sexual, physical, psychological, mental,
economic or any means and the parents or guardians refuse, are unwilling, or unable
to provide protection for the child;
2. Being exploited including sexually or economically;
3. Being abandoned or neglected, and after diligent search and inquiry, the parent or
guardian cannot be found;
4. Coming from a dysfunctional or broken family or without a parent or guardian;
5. Being out of school
6. Being street child;
7. Being member of a gang;
8. Living in the community with a high level of criminality or drug abuse; and
9. Living in situation of armed of conflict.
(E) “CHILD IN CONFLICT WITH THE LAW” refers to a child who is alleged as, accused of,
or adjudged as, having committed an offense under Philippine laws.
(F) “COMMUNITY – BASED PROGRAMS” refers to the programs provided in a community
setting developed for purpose of intervention and diversion, as well as rehabilitation of
the child in conflict with the law, for reintegration into his/her family and/or community.
(G) “COURT” refers to a family court or, in places where there are no family courts may
regional trial court.
(H) “DEPRIVATION OF LIBERTY” refers to any form of detention or imprisonment or to the
placement of a child in conflict with the law in a public or private custodial setting, from
which the child in conflict with the law is not permitted to leave at will by order of any
judicial or administrative authority.
(I) “DIVERSION” refers to an alternative, child appropriate process of determining the
responsibility and treatment of a child in conflict with the law on the basis of his/her
social, cultural, economic, psychological, or educational background without resorting to
formal court proceedings.
(J) “DIVERSION PROGRAM” refers to the program that the child in conflict with the law is
required to undergo after he/she is found responsible for an offense without resorting to
formal court proceedings.
(K) “INITIAL CONTACT WITH THE CHILD” refers to the apprehension or taking into
custody of a child in conflict with the law by law enforcement officers or private citizens.
In includes the time when the child alleged to be in conflict with the law receives a
subpoena under Section 3 (b) of Rule 112 of the Revised Rules of criminal Procedure or
summons under Section 6 (b) or Section 9 (b) of the same Rule in cases that do not
require preliminary investigation or where there is no necessity to place the child alleged
to be conflict with the law under immediate custody.
(L) “INTERVENTION” refers to ai series of activities which are designed to address that
caused the child to commit an offense. It may take the form of an individualized
treatment program which may include counseling, skills training, education, and other
activities that will enhance his/her psychological, emotional and psycho-social well-
being.
(M) “JUVENILE JUSTICE AND WELFARE SYSTEM” refers to a system dealing with
children at risk and children in conflict with the law, which provides child appropriate
proceedings including programs and services for prevention, diversion, rehabilitation,
reintegration and aftercare to ensure their normal growth and development.
(N) “LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER” refers to the person in authority or his/her agent as
defined in Article 152 of the Revised Penal Code, including Barangay Tanod.
(O) “OFFENSE” refers to any act or omission whether punishable under special laws or
revised Penal Code, as amended.
(P) “REGORNIZANCE “ refers to an under taking in lieu of a bond assumed by a parent or
custodian who shall responsible for the appearance in court of the child in conflict with
the law when required.
(Q) ”RESTORATIVE JUSTICE” refers to a principle which requires a process of resolving
conflicts with the maximum involvement of a victim, the offender, the offended and the
community; and reassurance to the offender that he/she can be reintegrated into
society. It is also enhances public safety by activating the offender, the victim and the
community in prevention strategies.
(R) “STATUS OFFENSE” refers to offenses which discriminate only against a child, while
an adult does not suffer any penalty for committing similar acts. These shall include
curfew violations, truancy, parental disobedience and the like.
(S) “YOUTH DETENTION HOME” refers to a 24 –hour child –caring institution managed by
accredited local government units (LGU’s) and licensed and /or accredited NGO’s
providing short term residential care for children in conflict with the law who are awaiting
court disposition of their cases or transfer to other agencies or jurisdiction
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