PART III

CRIMINOGY 52

[Juvenile Delinquency & Crime Prevention]

RELEVANT TERMS

Child

A person who is below eighteen (18) years of age.

Filipino Child (PD 603)

A minor or a youth; any person below 18 years old, a boy or a girl at any age between
infancy and adolescence; however, the law includes infants and even unborn children.
A person who is below 18 years old or those over but unable to fully take care of themselves
from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or mental
disability or condition.
Dependent Child

A person who is without a parent, guardian or custodian, or whose parents, guardian or custodian for
good cause desires to be relieved of his care and custody, and is dependent upon the public for
support.
Abandoned Child

A person who has no proper parental care or guardianship, or whose parents or guardian has
deserted him for a period of at least six continuous months.
Neglected Child

A person whose basic needs have been deliberately unattended to or inadequately attended to,
physically or emotionally, by his parents or guardians.
Physical Neglect

It occurs when the child is malnourished, ill clad and without proper shelter.
Emotional Neglect

It occurs when a child is raped, seduced, maltreated, exploited, overworked or made to work under
streets or public places, or when placed in moral danger, or exposed to drugs, alcohol, gambling,
prostitution and other vices.
Disabled Child

It includes mentally retarded, physically handicapped, emotionally disturbed and mentally ill children,
children with cerebral palsy and those inflicted with similar afflictions.
Mentally Retarded Child

A person who is (a) socially incompetent, that is, socially inadequate, occupationally incompetent
and unable to manage his own affairs; (b) mentally subnormal; (c) intellectually retarded from birth or
early age; (d) retarded at maturity; (5) mentally deficient as a result of constitutional origin through
heredity or diseases or (6) essentially incurable.
Physically Handicapped Child

A person who is crippled, deaf-mute, or otherwise, suffers from a defect which restricts his means of
action or communication with others.
Emotionally Disturbed Child
A person who, although not afflicted with insanity or mental defect, is unable to maintain normal
social relations with others and the community in general due to emotional problems or complexes.
Mentally Ill Child

A person who have behavioral disorder, whether functional or organic, which is of such a degree of
severity as to require professional help or hospitalization.
Commitment or Surrender of a Child

It is the legal act of entrusting a child to the care of the Department or any duly licensed child
placement or child caring agency or individual by the court, parent or guardian.
Involuntarily Committed Child

A person whose parents, have been permanently and judicially deprived of parental authority due to
abandonment; substantial, continuous or repeated neglect; abuse or incompetence to discharge
parental responsibility.
Voluntarily Committed Child

A person whose parents’ knowingly and unwillingly relinquished parental authority to the Department
or any duly licensed child-placement or child-caring agency or individual.

Child-placing or Child-Placement Agency

It refers to a private non-profit institution or government agency duly licensed and accredited by the
Department to provide comprehensive child welfare services, including but not limited to receiving
application for adoption or foster care, evaluating the prospective adoptive or foster parents and
preparing the home study report.
Child-Caring Agency

It refers to a private non-profit institution or government agency duly licensed and accredited by the
Department that provides twenty-four hour residential care services for abandoned, orphaned,
neglected, involuntarily or voluntarily committed children.
Guardian Ad Litem

A person appointed by the court where the case is pending for a child sought to be committed to
protect his best interests.
Child in Conflict with the Law

A person who at the time of the commission of the offense is below eighteen (18) years of age but
not less than nine (9) years of age.
Age of Criminal Responsibility

It is the age when a child who is above fifteen (15) but below eighteen (18) years of age commits an
offense with discernment.
discernment

It refers to the mental capacity to understand the difference between right and wrong and its
consequences.
Restorative Justice

It is the principle that requires a process of resolving conflicts with the maximum involvement of the
victim, the offender and the community.