How does age affect one’s mental, emotional, and physical health? Mu matter ba?
In 2019, a proposal to lower the age of criminal liability in the Philippines to nine years came under fire from human rights groups and legislators who warned that the move could cause more harm than good. The justice committee of the House of Representatives approved the bill proposing to lower the age of criminal liability from fifteen to nine. This bill was brought to their attention due to the alarming increase in the number of criminal syndicates using minors to carry out criminal acts.
Crimes covered by the bill were murder, patricide, infanticide, serious illegal detention, car-jacking, and violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act. Under the proposed law, a law above nine years old but below eighteen, when they commit an offense, would be exempted from criminal liability and intervention unless they had acted with discernment.
Are children truly at fault for what they do?
According to UNICEF, there is a lack of evidence and data that children are responsible for the increase in crime rates in the Philippines. Lowering the age of criminals will not stop adult offenders from abusing children to commit crimes.
It causes more harm than good. Lowering the age of criminal responsibility is an act of violence. The children are already victims of their circumstances due to poverty and being exploited by criminal syndicates. Children deserve a second chance to reform and rehabilitate.
Mga mars, let’s be real. Scientific studies have shown that brain function reaches maturity at sixteen years old affecting their brain reasoning and impulse control. Knowing that there are wretch proposals that argue that children at nine years old were criminally mature is truly despicable. If that is the case, ngano 18 years old ang legal age? Children need proper guidance and discipline from their parents when they are at the age where they do not understand the consequences of their actions.
