Juvenile Delinquency

PD 603 - Child and Youth Welfare Code

RA 9262 - Anti Violence Against Women and their Children Act of 2004.

RA 9344 - Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006

Youthful offender - over 9 years old but under 18 years old at the time of the commission of the
offense.

Crime Theories Applicable to Juvenile Delinquency

  1. Rational Choice - causes of crime lie within the
      individual offender rather than in their external
      environment.
  2. Social Disorganization - absence or breakdown of
      communal institutions and communal relationships
      that traditionally encouraged cooperative
      relationships among people.
                  
                    Communal Institutions
          1. Family
          2. School
          3. Church
          4. Social Groups

   3. Strain Theory - crime is caused by the difficulty of

      those in poverty in achieving socially valued goals
      by legitimate means.
  4. Differential Association - young people are
      motivated to commit crimes by delinquent peers
      and learn criminal skills from them.
  5. Labelling Theory - once a person is labelled criminal
      they are more likely to offend. Once labelled as
      deviant, a person may accept that role and more
      likely to associate with others who have been
      similarly labelled.
  6. Social Control Theory - proposes that exploiting
      the process of socialization and social learning
      builds self control and can reduce the inclination
      to indulge in behavior recognized as anti social.

Four Types of Control That Can Help Prevent Juvenile Delinquency

  1. Direct - punishment is threatened or applied for
      wrongful behavior and compliance is rewarded by
      parents, family and authority figures.
  2. Internal - youth refrains from delinquency through
      the conscience or super ego.
  3. Indirect - by identification with those who  
      influence behavior because his/her delinquent act
      might cause pain and disappointment to parents
      and others with whom he/she has close
      relationships.
  4. Control - through needs satisfaction, if all
      individuals needs are met, there is no point in
      criminal activity.

Breed vs. Jones - A US court decision where it held that juveniles can not be tried when
acquitted in juvenile court then tried again in adult criminal court.Double jeopardy applies to
juveniles as well as adults.
Juvenile Delinquency - is the participation in illegal behavior by minors who fall under a
statutory limit.

Juvenile Delinquent - is a person who is typically under the age of 18 and commits an act that
otherwise would have been charged as a crime if they were an adult.

Crimes Commonly Committed by Juvenile Delinquents

1.  Status offenses - is an action that is prohibited only to a certain class of people and most
often applied to offenses only committed by minors. example, under age smoking.
2. Property crimes - is a category of crime that includes theft,robbery,motor vehicle
theft,arson,shop lifting and vandalism.
3. Violent Crime in which the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim.

Age of Majority - is the threshold of adulthood as it is conceptualized,recognized or declared by

law.The vast majority of country including the Philippines set majority age at 18.

Young Adult - a person between the ages of 20 and 40 whereas adolescent is a person between
the ages of 13 and 19.
 
Types/Categories of Juvenile Delinquency

1.  Delinquency - crimes committed by minors which are dealt with by the juvenile courts
and justice system.
2. Criminal behavior - crimes dealt with by the criminal justice system.
3. status offenses - offenses which are only classified as such because one is a minor, such as
truancy which is also dealt with by juvenile court.

Truancy - is any intentional unauthorized absence from compulsory schooling.

Vandalism - Ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable.The term
includes criminal damage such as graffiti and defacement directed towards a property without the
permission of the owner.

Graffiti - is writing or drawings scribbled,scratched or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface

in a public place.

Defacement - refers to marking or removing the part of an object designed to hold the viewers
attention.

Types of Offenders That Emerge in Adolescence

1. Repeat Offender - (life-course-persistent offender) - begins offending or showing anti-

social/aggressive behavior in adolescence or even childhood and continuous in adulthood.
2. Age Specific Offender (adolescence-limited offender) - juvenile offending or delinquency
begins and ends during their period of adolescence.