Professional Documents
Culture Documents
DELINQUENCY
- an anti-social behavior or act which does not conform with the standards of society
- youth behavior which is against the norms and regulations of society which if left unchecked would
give rise to criminality
- describes a large number of disapproved behavior of children or youth
- anti-social acts or behavior of children which deviate from the normal pattern of rules and regulations,
custom and culture which society does not accept and which therefore justify some kind of
admonition, punishment or corrective measures in the public interest
JUVENILE
- a child or a young person, who, under the legal system may be dealt with for an offense in a manner
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different from that of an adult
- persons below the age of majority, that is, below eighteen years old
AGE OF MAJORITY
- majority commences at the age of eighteen (18) years
EMANCIPATION
- freedom from parental authority, both over his person and property
- happens upon reaching the age of eighteen years
RA 6809
- the law amending the age of majority
- lowered the age of majority from twenty-one (21) to eighteen (18) years
- approved on 13 December 1989
DELINQUENT
- one whose behavior has brought him into repeated conflict with the law regardless whether he has
been taken before a court and adjudged a delinquent
- one who has committed an offense that violated the approved norms of conduct and is guilty of a
misdeed
STATUS OFFENSE
- certain acts or omissions which may not be punishable socially or legally if committed by adults but
become anti-social or illegal because the offender is a minor, such as:
a) truancy, or frequent, unreasonable absenteeism from school
b) use of profane language
c) running away from home
d) smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages
e) disobedience to parents, guardians or school officials
f) mendicancy or begging in the streets
g) association with delinquent gangs
ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
- characterized by disobedience to, or disrespect for, authorities
- the doctrine that does not consider delinquent acts as criminal violation, thus making delinquents
non-criminal persons and cannot be found guilty of a crime and punished like an adult criminal
- views minor who violate the laws as victims of improper care, custody and treatment at home
- assumption by the State of the role of guardian over children whose parents are deemed incapable
or unworthy
- the authority of the state to act on behalf of the children
1) ENVIRONMENTAL DELINQUENTS
- characterized by occasional law-breaking
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3) PSYCHIATRIC DELINQUENTS
- characterized by serious emotional disturbances within the individual and in some cases associated
with tendencies towards mental illness
2) NEUROTIC
- one who has internalized his conflicts and is preoccupied with his own feelings
3) ASOCIAL
- one whose delinquent acts have a cold, brutal and vicious quality for which the youth feels no remorse
4) ACCIDENTAL
- one who is essentially sociable and law-abiding but happens to be at the wrong time and place and
becomes involved in delinquent acts not typical of his general behavior
2) PSYCHOGENIC APPROACH
- argues that the critical factors in delinquency are personality problems to which misbehavior is
presumed to be the response
3) SOCIOGENIC APPROACH
- attributes delinquency pattern to social structures
- views youthful misdeed as a result of a learning process through interactions with other members of
society
THEORY
- based on the classical school of criminology that views an individual as having free will in choosing
his actions and that he calculates what he will gain or lose if he commits an act
- views the delinquent as a motivated offender who breaks the law because he or she perceives an
abundance of benefits and an absence of threat
1) BIOCHEMICAL
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- views that crime and delinquency, especially violence, are the result of diet, vitamin intake, hormonal
imbalance and other biological causes
2) NEUROLOGICAL
- explains that crime and delinquency occur because the individual suffers from brain impairment or
abnormality in the structure of the brain
- learning disabilities such as attention deficit/hyperactive disorder and minimum brain dysfunction
are related to antisocial behavior
3) GENETIC
- explains that delinquent traits and predisposition to criminality are inherited from parents
- criminality of parents can predict delinquency of children
- supported by research on twin studies and adoption studies
PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES
- views delinquency as a result of emotional and mental disturbance of the individual
- contemporary explanation of the psychogenic approach
- has three sub-theories: psychodynamic, behavioral and cognitive
1) PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY
- based on the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud
- delinquency is the result of the imbalance of the three components of personality: id, ego and
superego
- delinquency is the product of the abnormal personality structure formed in early life and which
thereafter controls human behavior choices
2) BEHAVIORAL THEORY
- believes that individuals learn by observing how people react to their behavior
- behavior is reinforced by some positive reaction, and behavior is extinguished if punished
- misbehavior of children if left unchecked will persist until adolescence
3) COGNITIVE THEORY
- views that delinquency is a result of the faulty perception and analysis of data of an individual
- believes that when an individual make decisions, he engages in a sequence of cognitive thought
processes:
1) he first encodes the information so that it can be interpreted;
2) then, he searches for a proper response and decide upon the most appropriate action;
3) finally, he acts on his decision
- delinquency-prone adolescents may have cognitive deficits and use information incorrectly when
they make decisions
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
- views delinquency as a product of the different social factors and dynamics
- has four groups of theories which in turn contain several sub-theories: social structure theories, social
process theories, social reaction theories and social conflict theories
1) FAMILY
- the first and most basic institution of society responsible for developing a child’s potential in all its aspects
like physical, emotional, spiritual, moral, intellectual and social
- molds the child to learn to curb his desires and to accept rules that define the time, place and
circumstances under which highly personal needs may be satisfied in socially acceptable ways
2) SCHOOL
- considered the second home of a child, with teachers as the second parents
- institution responsible for the training of young person’s intellectual, moral, as well as social skills which
they need for them to grow up as productive, law-abiding and responsible citizens
3) ENVIRONMENT
- the culture, norms and behavior of the child’s surroundings may very well influence the upbringing of the
child especially during their formative years and such misbehavior learned is likely to be carried on until
the child’s maturity
CHANCERY COURTS
- protected the property rights and welfare of minor children who could not care for themselves
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- the courts dealt with issues of guardianship and the use and control of property
- the courts operated under the parens patriae philosophy which held that children were under the
protective control of the state
AMERICAN SYSTEM
- the practice of indenture and chancery courts in England were adopted by the states of Virginia,
Connecticut and Massachusetts, however, those youths who committed serious criminal offenses
continued to be tried in the same courts as adults
- middle-class civic leaders, who referred to themselves as CHILD SAVERS began to develop
organizations and groups to help alleviate the burdens of the poor and immigrants by sponsoring
shelter care for youths, educational and social activities and the development of settlement houses;
this was called the CHILD SAVING MOVEMENT
- they are responsible for creating a number of programs for indigent youths, including the New York
House of Refuge, a reformatory, which began operations in 1825
- the House of Refuge was created to protect indigent youths who were at risk to crime by taking them
off the streets and reforming them in a family-like environment
- the first comprehensive juvenile court was established in Illinois in 1899 through the passage of the
Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899 which set up an independent court to handle criminal law violations
by children under sixteen (16) years of age, as well as to care for neglected, dependent, and wayward
youths
- the purpose of the act was to separate juveniles from adult offenders and provide a legal framework
in which juveniles could get adequate care and custody
- Congress passed the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 to identify the needs
of youths and to fund programs in the juvenile justice system
- its main goal was to separate wayward, non-dangerous youths from institutions housing delinquents
and to remove adolescents from institutions housing adult offenders
JUVENILE COURT
- a court that has original jurisdiction over persons defined by statute as juveniles and alleged to be
delinquents or status offenders
PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
- the sum total of the duties and obligations of parents over their minor children
LIABILITIES OF PARENTS
- parents and guardians are responsible for the damage or injury caused by the child under their
parental authority
LEGAL CUSTODY
- in case of separation of parents, no child under SEVEN (7) YEARS OF AGE shall be separated from
his mother unless the court decides otherwise
GUARDIANSHIP
- a trust relation of the most sacred character, in which one person, called a guardian, acts for
another, called a ward, regarded as incapable of managing his own affairs
CONCEPTION
- the start of life
- the union of the sperm cell and the egg cell
- also called the process of fertilization
CIVIL PERSONALITY
- pertains to the identity and recognition of an individual as person having rights
- shall commence from the moment of conception, thus all children shall have the right to be born
and the right to live
ABORTION
- the expulsion of the fetus from the mother’s womb
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KINDS OF ABORTION
1) CRIMINAL ABORTION
- classified as intentional or unintentional as provided by the Revised Penal Code
- punishable by law
2) THERAPEUTIC ABORTION
- recommended and performed by a certified physician when there are health risks and complications
- not punishable by law
CATEGORIES OF CHILDREN
1) DEPENDENT
- one who is without a parent, guardian or custodian, or whose parents, guardian or other custodian
for good cause desire to be relieved of his care and custody and is dependent upon the public for
support
2) ABANDONED
- one who had no proper parental care or guardianship or whose parents or guardians have deserted
him for a period of at least six consecutive months (PD 603)
- refers to a child who has no proper parental care or guardianship, or whose parents have deserted
him or her for a period of at least three (3) continuous months (RA 9523
3) NEGLECTED
- one whose basic needs have been deliberately unattended or inadequately attended
- a child is unattended when left by himself without provision for his needs and without proper
supervision
- neglect may occur in two ways:
a) physical neglect
o Malnourishment, untidy and damaged clothing, no shelter
b) emotional neglect
o maltreated, raped, seduced, abused, exploited, made to work under conditions not conducive to
good health or placed in moral and physical danger
4) MENTALLY-RETARDED
- socially incompetent, socially inadequate, occupationally incompetent and unable to manage their
own affairs
- mentally sub-normal
- retarded intellectually from birth or early age
- retarded at maturity
- mentally deficient as a result of constitutional origin through heredity or disease
- essentially incurable
5) PHYSICALLY-HANDICAPPED
- crippled, deaf-mute, blind and other conditions which restrict their means of action or
communication with others
6) EMOTIONALLY-DISTURBED
- those 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
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- may be caused by traumatic experiences
7) MENTALLY-ILL
- those with any behavioral disorder, whether functional or organic, which is of such a degree of
severity as to require professional help or hospitalization
8) DISABLED
- includes mentally-retarded, physically-handicapped, emotionally-disturbed and mentally-ill children
ADOPTION
- an act by which relations of paternity and filiations are recognized as legally existing between persons
not so related by nature
- the taking into one’s family of the child of another, as son or daughter and heir, and conferring on it
a title to the rights and privileges of such
FILIATION
- the acknowledgment of the father of his relationship with the child
- also called paternity
BIOLOGICAL CHILD
- natural-born child of the parents
ADOPTED CHILD
- a child who underwent the judicial process of adoption
FOUNDLING
- refers to a deserted or abandoned infant or child whose parents, guardian or relatives are unknown
ADOPTEE
- the child or person being petitioned for adoption
VOLUNTARILY-COMMITTED CHILD
- one whose parents or legal guardian knowingly and willingfully relinquished parental authority to the
DSWD or any duly accredited child-placement or child caring agency or institution
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CHILD-CARING AGENCY OR INSTITUTION
- refers to a private non-profit or government agency duly accredited by the DSWD that provides
twenty-four (24) hour residential care services for abandoned, neglected, or voluntarily committed
children (RA 9523)
RESCISSION OF ADOPTION
- the nullification of the adoption
- adoption shall not be subject to rescission by the adopter
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INTER-COUNTRY ADOPTION
- the socio-legal process of adopting a Filipino child by a foreigner or a Filipino citizen permanently
residing abroad where the petition is filed, the supervised trial custody is undertaken and the decree
of adoption is issued outside the Philippines
RA 9523 – the law giving DSWD the sole authority to issue the certification declaring a child legally available for
adoption
RA 7610 – SPECIAL PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AGAINST CHILD ABUSE, EXPLOITATION AND DISCRIMINATION
ACT
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CHILD ABUSE
- refers to maltreatment, whether habitual or not, of the child
CHILD PROSTITUTION
- exploitation of children, whether male or female, by coercing them into indulging in sexual
intercourse or lascivious conduct for money, profit or any other consideration
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TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS
- the recruitment, transportation, transfer or harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the
victim’s consent or knowledge within or across national borders by means of threat or use of force,
or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or prostitution, taking
advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve
the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation which
includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual
exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal or sale of organs
- the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a child for the purpose of
exploitation shall also be considered as “trafficking in person” even if it does not involve any of the
means set forth in the preceding paragraph
QUALIFIED TRAFFICKING IN PERSON
SEX TOURISM
- refers to a program organized by travel and tourism related establishments and individuals which
consist of tourism packages or activities, utilizing and offering escort and sexual services as
enticement for tourists
PORNOGRAPHY
- refers to any representation, through publication, exhibition, cinematography, indecent shows,
information technology, or by whatever means, of a person engaged in real or simulated explicit
sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a person for primarily sexual purposes
DEBT BONDAGE
- refers to pledging by the debtor of his or her personal services or labor or those of a person under his
or her control as security or payment for a debt, when the length and nature of services are not clearly
defined or when the value of the services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation
of debt
1) When a child works directly under sole responsibility of his parents or legal guardian and where only
members of the employer’s family are employed
2) Where a child’s employment or participation in public entertainment or information through cinema,
theatre, radio or television is essential, with the approval of the Department of Labor and Employment
(DOLE)
- it is the duty of the employer to submit to the DOLE a report of all children employed by him
- if a domestic is under sixteen (16) years of age, the head of the family shall give him or her an
opportunity to complete at least elementary education, the cost of which shall be a part of the
domestic’s compensation
WORKING HOURS
- may work for maximum of four (4) hours a day, twenty (20) hours a week
- may work between six o’clock in the morning to eight o’clock in the evening (6am to 8pm)
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VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN
- refers to any act or a series of acts committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, former
wife, or against a woman with whom the person has or had a sexual or dating relations, or with whom
he has a common child, or against her child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without the
family abode, which result in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering,
or economic abuse including threats of such acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary
deprivation of liberty
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE
- refers to acts that include bodily or physical harm
SEXUAL VIOLENCE
- refers to an act which is sexual in nature, committed against a woman or her child
PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE
- refers to acts or omissions causing or likely to cause mental or emotional suffering of the victim such
as but not limited to intimidation, harassment, stalking, damage to property, public ridicule or
humiliation, and repeated verbal abuse
ECONOMIC ABUSE
- refers to acts that make or attempt to make a woman financially dependent
BATTERY
- refers to an act of inflicting physical harm upon the woman or her child resulting to the physical and
psychological or emotional distress
STALKING
- refers to an intentional act committed by a person who knowingly and without lawful justification
follows the woman or her child or places the woman or her child under surveillance directly or
indirectly
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
- refers to a principle which requires a process of resolving conflicts with the maximum involvement of
the victim, the offender and the community; seeks to obtain reparation for the victim, reconciliation of
the offender, the offended and the community and reassurance to the offender that he or she can be
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reintegrated into society
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
INTERVENTION
- refers to a series of activities which are designed to address issues that caused the child to commit
an offense
- may take the form of an individualized treatment program which may include counseling, skills
training, education, and other activities that will enhance his or her psychological, emotional and
psycho-social well-being
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 or her social, cultural, economic, psychological or
educational background without resorting to formal court proceedings
DIVERSION PROGRAM
- refers to the program that the child in conflict with the law is required to undergo after he or she is
found responsible for an offense without resorting to formal court proceedings
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and from the court and while waiting for the hearing
4) the right to be detained only with other detainees of the same sex, if detention is necessary
5) the right to be searched only by a law enforcement officer of the same gender
6) the right not to be handcuffed, when such is not necessary
7) the right to have his parents or guardians present
8) the right to diversion if he or she is qualified and voluntarily avails of the same
9) the right to AUTOMATIC SUSPENSION OF SENTENCE
10) the right to probation as an alternative to imprisonment, if qualified under the Probation Law
11) the right to have the records and proceedings involving him be considered PRIVILEGED AND
CONFIDENTIAL
1) PRIMARY INTERVENTION
- includes general measures to promote social justice and equal opportunity, which tackle perceived
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root causes of offending
2) SECONDARY INTERVENTION
- includes measures to assist children at risk
3) TERTIARY INTERVENTION
- includes measures to avoid unnecessary contact with the formal justice system and other measures
to prevent re-offending
SYSTEM OF DIVERSION
- children in conflict with the law shall undergo diversion proceedings subject to the following
conditions:
1) the imposable penalty for the crime committed is NOT MORE THAN SIX (6) YEARS
IMPRISONMENT
2) in victimless crimes, the imposable penalty is NOT MORE THAN SIX (6) YEARS IMPRISONMENT
3) in cases where the imposable penalty exceeds six (6) years, diversion measures may be resorted to
only by the court
- the diversion proceedings shall be completed within FORTY-FIVE (45) DAYS CONTRACT OF
DIVERSION
- shall be prepared if the child:
1) is qualified for diversion; and
2) voluntarily admits the commission of the act and the parents or guardian of the child and the
child himself agrees to the diversion program
- it must be signed by the child’s parents or guardian and the authorities concerned
PROSECUTION
- a child in conflict with the law shall undergo PROSECUTION if:
1) he is not qualified for diversion
2) he is qualified for diversion but he or his parents or guardian does not agree to diversion
3) diversion is not appropriate for the child in conflict with the law, based on the social worker’s
recommendations
COURT PROCEEDINGS
- during trial, the court shall order:
1) the release of the child on recognizance to his or her parents and other suitable persons
2) the release of the child on bail
3) if the child is to be detained, the transfer of the child to a youth detention home
- detention of the child shall be ordered only as a last resort
PROBATION
- a child in conflict with the law whose sentence was executed by the court upon reaching the
maximum age of TWENTY-ONE (21) shall be entitled to the benefits of probation under PD 968, the
Probation Law of 1976
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
- refers to any representation, whether visual, audio or written combination thereof, by electronic,
mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or any other means, of child engaged or involved in real or
simulated explicit sexual activities
Human Behavior
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