Monday, January 21, 2008 Crime by minors hiked by 300% By Carlo P. Mallo
CRIMES involving youth offenders in Southern Mindanao have increased by more than 300 percent after just over a year of the implementation of Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Law (JJWL).
Theft remains to be top crime committed by youth offenders.
In the annual report of the Police Regional Office in Southern Mindanao, it showed that the total number of offenses committed by youth offenders for 2007 reached 1,877 cases.
The bulk of these crimes were committed by minors below 15 years old, accounting for 1,664 cases. The rest were committed by minors above 15 but below 18 years old.
The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Law provides the automatic exemption of children below 15 years old from criminal liability.
In 2006, the total number of cases only reached a total 519 cases.
In 2005, crimes involving youth offenders reached a total of 454 cases.
The JJWL was implemented in May of 2006.
In an interview Thursday, Police Regional Director Andres Caro II said most of these offenders are repeat offenders.
Caro again called for the review of the law that was authored by Senator Francis Pangilinan.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly lambasted the law and has called on Pangilinan to take a second look and make the necessary amendments.
Theft accounted for almost half of the 1,877 cases of juvenile offenses with 890 cases. In 2006, there were 160 cases of theft committed by minors.
Coming in at a far second are violations of the Presidential Decree 1619 or the illegal use of rugby, with 256 cases, a far cry from the 84 violations in 2006.
Violations of the vagrancy law ranks at third with 183 cases, more than a 100 percent increase from its 85 cases in 2006.
Alarm and scandal ranked fourth with 114 cases. In 2006 only eight such cases were reported.
