EDITORIAL - Juvenile offenders

Two local videos went viral recently. One shows street urchins, said to be sniffing solvents, jumping on the passenger side of a jeepney as it stopped for a red light on Taft Avenue in Manila. The boys jumped out and ran away after grabbing the driver’s earnings from the dashboard. The driver managed to catch one of the urchins but eventually let the defiant boy go. Young boys also tried to snatch the belongings of a motorcycle rider.

Another video has gruesome content. It shows a teenage boy crouching with what looks like a wooden paddle, and then pouncing on another boy and beating him to death on the street. At least seven loiterers were seen watching the fatal beating.

The killer was arrested in his grandmother’s house and was found to be 15 years old; his victim was reportedly 14. The seven loiterers are at large. On TV, the victim’s grieving relatives expressed concern that the killer, because of his tender age, would not be made to pay for his crime and may even be released, free to kill again.

Republic Act 9344, the juvenile justice and welfare system act, exempts persons aged 15 or younger from criminal liability, but the child will be subjected to an intervention or rehabilitation program. A person older than 15 but below 18 – still legally classified as a child – may also be exempted from criminal liability, unless it is established that the child acted “with discernment” in committing the crime.

Establishing “discernment” can be tricky. The two latest incidents, caught on video, have revived calls for the lowering of the age of discernment. Proponents point out that intervention programs for children in conflict with the law in this country are inadequate, and the children are soon back in the streets. Aware of the exemption from criminal liability, drug traffickers and illegal gambling barons use children as couriers and collectors. 

There is no argument that children need protection from the state. But people also need protection from teenagers’ criminal behavior. To balance these needs, Congress can take a second look at the juvenile justice law for possible amendments.