On Juvenile Delinquency

There's a notion believed by people that evildoers only come into sight when the night bites, so having your bag, mobile phones, and jewelries snatched in daylight is truly a surprise; but what is more surprising is to see that the people who commit these crimes are the youth who were considered by our late National Hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal as the hope of our Fatherland. If Juvenile Delinquency is very apparent in our society nowadays, then how on earth would we be fulfilling Dr. Rizal's hopes and aspirations?

Children under the age of 18 should be seen in schools studying and preparing themselves for a brighter tomorrow, not knocking on the car doors begging for money on the drivers when the red light ordered all cars to stop and traffic jam is pummeling the heads of many; not on sidewalks running after stealing and snatching other people's belongings; not in the market eyeing silently like magpies their prey who has shiny and glimmering stone crystals hanging on her ears; not sitting on the corners with their colleagues, inhaling the rugby-filled plastics on their hands.

It is really difficult to understand what the 21st century parents do to their children, why instead of sending them to school to study, they are letting them wander off the streets like rabies infected dogs, dangerous and have the pride of pestering people's lives. Their children do various of crimes and sometimes they commit a felony. Don't they know what their children are putting themselves into? Is there a way for this madness to stop?

Children are very young to be doing all these. The freshness of their youth marked by the elasticity of their skin is vibrant on their faces. They can still be moulded and taught to be law abiding citizens of our country. Their God-given abilities can be developed and used for a more useful cause. However, as time passes by, the youth becomes worse and worse, so the probability for this to happen is quite small.

If these children can no longer be taught and transformed to be better human beings, what should we do? The solutions is simple, but carrying it out is easier said than done because executing it means stomping on our fellow Filipinos' views, norms, and hamartia which is their love for children. We must now wash our faces with icy cold water and wake our senses up. We now need to see the reality that the youth we believed to be clothed with the coat of innocence and purity are no longer what they once seemed to be, because the youth these days commit more crimes than we the older ones do, so the age of criminal responsibility in our country must now be lowered down.



These Juvenile Recidivists are pretentious, and have a keen cutting edge. They are not oblivious with the knowledge that when they committed crime, they will not be jailed because they are young; they're minors; they are protected by the Defense of Infancy. They simply know the law and this had been fueling their kind to commit crimes and allows them to stomach their abominations. They're like psychopaths who are capacitated with cognitive empathy, enabling them to know how others feel, but don't give a damn to these feelings because of the absence of emotional empathy on their systems. If they want something, they'll do everything to get it, not caring about other people. If they want  money, they'll do whatever it takes to have it, but why would they risk their lives and commit crimes to acquire these anyway?

Parents as define by countless dictionaries are organisms from which younger ones are obtained who have the task to nurture, raise, and look after their children until they are adults. This definition, however, is being violated for years already. The parents who must work to sustain the needs of their children, stay at home while their children are outdoors searching and working hard for food and money. And some children choose to stroll the easiest route to gain money and that is robbery; to steal. And in some cases, they commit murder because they are paid to do it.

Juvenile Delinquency can still be stopped. There are ways to break the chain and we need to move now before it's too late. We have to act now before this dilemma devour our society whole. We just need to open our eyes, see, and feel the misery, agony, and calvary the young ones experience. We need to ignite the fire of empathy in our hearts and accept the responsibility of bringing children to life.