Abstract

Introduction

Children in conflict with the law (CICL) commit crimes. Violations can be petty such as drinking alcoholic beverages during election days to more grave offenses like murder. Their cases merit trial in courts.  Despite their offenses, they should not be treated like adult offenders.  The United Nations prohibits incarceration of minors with adults (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2006). Furthermore, they should receive educational programs in order for them to reform. The goal of their detention in youth centers is rehabilitative rather than punitive. Article 40 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1992) states that

Philippine laws protect the rights of CICL. Republic Act 9344 (Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006) protects the right of CICL and other children at risk. Children who commit criminal liability who are above 15 years old but below 18 years old are exempted from criminal liability but are subjected to an intervention program. Title III, Chapter 1, Section 13 states that Educational institutions shall work together with families, community organizations and agencies in the prevention of juvenile delinquency and in the rehabilitation and reintegration of child in conflict with the law. (Taken from: Philippine Congress (2006). Republic Act 9344.

Under the law, educational institutions are supposed to work together with families, community organizations and agencies in rehabilitation and re-integration of a CICL through individualized educational schemes. Children who are detained in rehabilitation centers must be provided the opportunity to continue learning under an alternative learning system with basic literacy programs or non-formal education accreditation equivalency system (Philippine Congress, 2006). In the Philippines,  the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)  caters to the need of children in conflict with the law. The latest statistics on the number of  CICL who were  committed to the DSWD centers in Metro Manila in 2009 is 8,329  for both male and female youth offenders (DSWD, 2010).  

            The Child and Youth Welfare Code of the Philippines gives the provision of education in detention homes for youth offenders in order to rehabilitate them. It defines youthful offenses as those committed by a child, minor or youth who is over nine but under 18 years old at the time of the commission of the offense (Malacanang Palace, 1974).
 This study identifies the intelligence levels, problems, career preferences, and plans of the Filipino children in conflict with the law as inputs to their educational priorities. Intelligence scores were identified through the Culture Fair Intelligence Test. IQ scores were identified in order to identify how counseling programs can be structured. Identifying  problems and concerns  was done through administering the Mooney Problem Checklist. This instrument is commonly used in Philippine schools. Filipino translations were made available to the participants. Prior to the research, the researcher was informed that the sample had vocational concerns. Given this, the researcher administered the Brainard Occupational Preference Inventory, a test that is also commonly administered in Philippine schools.
 
 This study is descriptive as it will make use of frequencies and mean scores. Qualitative data obtained during the interview sessions were categorized for ease of discussion.

Research Participants

Age Profiles

Age range of the participants is from 15 years old to 21 years old. The following table presents the ages of the research participants:

Table 1
Age Profiles

Supposedly, the maximum age limit for those committed in the center should only be 18 years. Those with grave offenses such as drug trafficking, homicide, murder and multiple offenses are transferred to the city jail upon age 18. For petty crimes that have delays in the promulgation of decision of the local courts, the stay of the CICL in the center gets prolonged.

Grade Levels

            Most (26%)of the research participants completed grade 5. The following table shows the highest grade level completed:

Table 2
Highest Grade Level Completed

Youth offenders usually have lower years of schooling (Peguero,2009). The respondents who have reached at least grade 5 say that they had to stop their studies when they were arrested for their offense. The two research participants who were not able to go to school say that their parents did not send them to school because of poverty. Their parents are vendors and do not see the importance of education.

Offenses Committed

Offenses that involve stealing such as theft, robbery and hold-up are classified under crimes against property. Offenses that involve assault, murder, homicide and physical injury are classified as crimes against persons.  Possession, usage and peddling of drugs such as marijuana, shabu and cocaine are drug-related violations. Offenses that involve carrying of deadly weapons and firearms are included under prohibition under special law. Violations of city ordinances such as the use of kuliglig (motorized bicycles) are included in others.
The following table shows the nature of the offenses committed:

Table 3
Offenses Committed

It can be noted that offenses that fall under crimes against property have the most number of offenses 103 (70%). All of the participants who were charged with  crimes against property said that poverty compelled them to commit such offense. Theft and other forms of stealing are usually done by people who have incomes at the poverty range and this is the most common form of law violation (Feinstein, 2003).

            Those who committed crimes against persons are being accused of either murder or homicide. Of the 12 participants being accused,  only one was charged of homicide for self-defense reasons.

 The other participants being accused of crimes against persons were involved in gang wars. Gangs are commonly known as troublesome youth groups(Decker, Van Gemert &  Pyrooz, 2009; Feinstein, 2003).  In the Philippines, gangs are involved in different crimes such as drugs, kidnapping, carnapping and organized theft. Different gangs also have the tendency to fight against each other. In fact, adult jail cells are organized based on gang membership.

Research Instruments

            The researcher made use of the Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFIT) -Scale 2  by Cattell (1965) to identify intelligence quotient (IQ) levels. The CFIT is a non-verbal IQ test to measure analytical and reasoning ability in the area of “g” (general) factor intelligence. This test includes classifications, conditions and series that are set in figures. It claims to be free from all cultural influences as language is not used in the questions posed. Reliability and validity coefficients are at .80.   It has a strong relationship with other mainstream intelligence tests such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Raven’s Progressive Matrices and the Stanford Binet. Scale 1 is used for young children, Scale 2 is recommended for adolescents while Scale 3 is recommended for adults.

This test was chosen as all the participants of the study use Filipino as their language of communication at the center. Having language-based intelligence tests would have an effect on validity as the participants may not be able to fully comprehend some items.

The Brainard Occupational Preference Inventory

            The Brainard Occupational Preference Inventory (BOPI)  is a standardized test that yields scores in six broad occupational fields for each gender. These fields are Commercial, Mechanical, Professional, Esthetic, and Scientific. Only males answer items on the field of Agriculture while females only answer Personal Service. The test’s reliability range from .88 to .95 for males and .82 to .95 for females (Brainard & Brainard, 1991).  Filipino translations were made available and were validated by the teachers. This done to ensure comprehensibility of the items. Time for answering the test ranged from 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

The Mooney Problem Checklist

            The Mooney Problem Checklist (MPC) was originally developed to help people identify and discuss their problems (Mooney and Gordon, 1950). The domains of the checklist are discussed in the latter portion of this article.  Like the BOPI, Filipino translations were made available and were validated by their  teachers to ensure comprehensibility of items.  Time for answering the test ranged from 35 to 45 minutes.

Intelligence Profiles 

            Career planning takes note of the skills, abilities and intelligence of an individual.  In this research, only intelligence was measured through the CFIT Scale 2 as the research participants may have problems in understanding standardized achievement tests as there may be language issues. Furthermore, as there are a variety of skills and abilities tests, it would not be feasible to administer these because of financial constraints. 

Below is the IQ profile of the research participants. In the absence of intelligence grouping of the CFIT-Scale 2, intelligence grouping for purposes of discussion is based on Terman’s (1983) classification and descriptive profile.

Table 4
IQ Profiles

It can be observed that majority of the research participants are in the below average range, followed by the average range. Following these are those in the  low range. Research has shown that youth offenders with below  average IQs are more susceptible to committing crimes (Ward & Tittle, 1994)

Career Preference

            Career preferences were identified through the Brainard Occupational Preference Inventory. The BOPI identifies six dimensions of occupation sections, namely: 1.Commercial(jobs in accounting, clerical work, selling and business management), 2. Mechanical (occupations in machine design, machine operation, fine manual work and building construction),  3. Professional (medical work, legal and social work, educational work, personnel work), 4. Esthetic (art in form and color, verbal expression, architecture and decoration and music), 5.Scientific (statistical research, physical research, biological research, chemical research), and 6.Agriciultural (farm and gardening, small animal raising, forestry, animal husbandry for males and domestic service, health service, community service and clothing for females).  Table 5 presents the career preference of the research participants:

 For purposes of discussion, only the top career preference was considered. However, the results of all the tests administered were relayed and explained to the participants of the study.

Table 5
Career Preference

Preferences in the Agricultural domain is the top career preference. Apparently, during the interview sessions, all the participants who had this domain as top preference said that they are interested in gardening and taking care of animals.  Similarly, this  is also the preference of people in disadvantaged groups (Mullinix, Garcia, Lewis Lorents,& Qazi, 2002). However, the only vocational training offered for males is in the field of welding, while girls are trained in different handicrafts. The course offering was not based on needs assessment but on the availability of teachers.

Problems of CICL

            The Mooney Problem Checklist with Filipino translations was given to the research participants. The domains of problems of the checklist can be found in Table 7. For purposes of discussion, only the top ranked answer of each participant is considered.

Table 6
Identified Problems of CICL Based on the Mooney Problem Checklist

The top problem area was considered in this Future Vocational and Educational Plans (FVE). There are participants who expressed fears on what will happen to them after their stay in the Center. They are afraid that employers will not hire them they learn about their previous court cases. They said that they need to find work as their parents will not be able to support them financially.
 
            Noting these problems, FLE comes in second. They fear that they would not be able to sustain themselves and/or their families. Worrying about finances is common to youth offenders  who come from low income families (Antonaccio,  Tittle,  Bothkovar, & Kranidiotis,  2010; Ngale, 2009 ). Two participants said that they would revert back to crime if they do not get good jobs when they get released.  Because of the social stigma that is given to offenders, recidivism may occur (Owens, 2009) Coming from families from low socio-economic status, they are worried on how they will be able to meet their own needs when they get released.

Health and physical conditions come in third. The respondents say that they lack food. Though the center tries its best to provide meals for the CICL, they are operating on a limited budget. They are not prepared for an increase of CICLs being admitted to their center. Living conditions in detention centers and prisons are indeed problematic as there is limited space and  budget for overcrowded prisons  (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2006).

            All participants said that the major problem that they are experiencing at present are their respective court cases. They feel that they have to be released from the Center in order for them to move on in life.

            Morals and Religions, Home and Family and Curriculum and Teaching Procedure did not rank first among the concerns of the research participants. Morals and Religions, for example were not questioned as they have religious education activities in the Center every Sunday. Priests and other religious groups discuss matters on religion.

CTP is not seen as a problem by the participants. Perhaps, this can be attributed to the fact that majority of them do not want to study any more. They would prefer to engage in work as soon as they are released from the center. This will be discussed in the latter portion of this paper.

Plans

            Majority (66%) of the research participants would like to work after their stay in the Center. All of them said that they already have jobs before they were placed in the center as they have to help their families earn a living, despite their age.  Child labor is common in third world countries (Hasnat, 1995, Todaro, 2006).

Table 7 presents their plans.

Table 7
Plans after release from the center

Those who have reached high school intend to finish it. All  of those who replied that they want to finish high school believe that  they will get better jobs and salaries if they have a high school diploma. They would be able to have employment in factories and offices instead of being porters or vendors in markets. They do not have plans of going to college because they believe that they cannot afford to send themselves to school.

Counseling Priorities

            Career Counseling.   Since the top concern identified in the Mooney Problem Checklist and the interviews yielded that the CICL in the sample intend to work after serving their sentences, it would be necessary for the rehabilitation center to give career counseling.  The Brainard Occupational Preference Inventory identifies Agriculture careers as a top vocational choice. Given these data, it might be beneficial for them to receive information regarding careers in Agriculture. Employment Training is also recommended.

            Counseling on Health and Physical Development. The sample would like to know matters that pertain to health. For example, in an informal interview conducted by the researcher, there are some who do not know the ill-effects of smoking and drug use.  Counseling on this area is deemed as beneficial by the sample.

Counseling to Help CICL Avoid Recidivism. Options on how to avoid crimes must be given to the participants. They must know how to avoid gangs and lure away from a life of crime.

Recommendations

Deployment of a Registered Counselor in Juvenile Delinquency Centers

            There is a need for counseling services to be made available to CICL. Though Philippine laws stipulate the availability of counseling services for them, there are no registered counselors available. The counselors to be deployed to such centers should consider the results of the study for their counseling programs.

On Community Programs for Children in Conflict with the Law
                                                                                               
            All of the CICL who are charged as to have crime against property  attribute their offense to poverty. They said that their families could not provide for their needs.  The IBON Foundation (2010) noted that the average National Capital Region minimum wage in 2010 is Php 404.00. However, the family living wage is supposed to be Php 957.00.  Noting that getting employed is difficult, other means of  getting basic needs must be sought for. Agricultural programs, for example can be encouraged at the village level so that families who are in the low income range can have something to eat. Networking to non-governmental organizations that can help provide livelihood programs for out of school youth can be done in order for them to have productive means of living.