THE minimum age of criminal liability, social responsibility or whatever should not really be such a big issue if we had the assurance that minors are not jailed but placed in rehabilitation centers where they are prepared to re-enter society upon their release. What is scary about the law setting the minimum age is the fact that minors will definitely end up in jail with adult criminals because there simply are not enough rehabilitation houses.
We are only too familiar with the inhuman living conditions in Philippine prisons. Our criminal justice system is based on the concept of punitive justice. Prison is punishment, hence the conditions there should be harsh and cruel, in short punitive. It is assumed to be part of the punishment that prisoners are treated like dirt.
One of the reasons I disagree with Pope Francis that the Philippines is a great Catholic country is the way government and Church treat prisoners. Our lawmakers are mostly Catholics but they still have to come up with laws that insure that prisoners are restored to society as better persons after their release.
I don’t blame them but the cry for justice of victims’ families, also mostly Catholic faithful, often sounds more like unChristian revenge.
Finally, Catholic bishops have no solid prison apostolate. Christ cited those entering heaven with “I was in prison and you visited me.” Yet how many prisons have a chaplain and how much logistical support are prison chaplains getting from Church and government? Not much from the looks of it.
Catholic bishops are actually right in opposing the drug war on their claim that drug addicts, pushers and lords should be rehabilitated and not killed. But they should extend this claim to all prisoners who are in jail for various other crimes. Just like every other human being prisoners have the right to be helped spiritually and physically and their dignity as human persons, not to mention as children of God, restored.
The generally acknowledged most humane prison system in the world is found in Norway, a country of 5.258 million people (2017 figures), 71.5 percent of whom are Lutheran and 2.9 percent Catholic Christians. Norway has the lowest incidence of repeat crimes because their criminal justice system is based on the concept of restorative justice. Norway’s prisons are not warehouses for criminals deserving of punishment but rehabilitation centers where inmates are prepared to re-enter society as productive members upon their release.
Our country is 85 percent Catholic Christians. Why can it not treat prisoners humanely? Why is it about to send minors to the hellishly hopeless prisons for adults? Why is it not practicing the truly Christian concept of restorative justice?