NAME: MARCOS, DARLENE

SUBJECT: CRI 317a _ 4605 _ 5:30 _ 6:30

In the complex dimension of juvenile delinquency, it is imperative to understand and

learn the various societal factors that drive a child’s involvement in delinquent activities.
Among them are poverty, poor family structure, a lack of supervision and guidance, and a
lack of education. In light of this, the placement of child offenders in adult jails only
intensifies the existing issue and fails to address the root causes of it. The correctional
approach being employed in the documentary entitled “Bunso” is plainly incapacitated to
rehabilitate the children in conflict with the law, and their real function states otherwise
because the pattern of delinquency continually persists.
In the film documentation, child offenders are caged in the intricate nature of
poverty, which becomes the primary force for them to engage in minor offenses such as
stealing. This is driven by the desperation to survive rather than malicious intent. The
commonalities with their responses to resorting to stealing to procure their basic necessities
are being manifested. Moreover, poor family structure, which is characterized by a lack of
parental guidance and adequate supervision, would leave the child unnoticed when
engaging in delinquent practices such as snatching and substance abuse. Some children
were runaway from their own home due to abusive and drunkard parents, which puts the
child in an environment where deviant peers exist and eventually become one too.
Additionally, among the principal elements of this phenomenon is the lack of education for
children, which stems from a lack of support from parents, and in return, the children were
robbed of the chance to learn positive values and morals.
Consequently, the confinement of young offenders in adult jails has become a
legitimate concern considering its disturbing outcome towards the child’s mentality and
behavior. Merging them into the world of adult offenders brings no good, in fact, it will
weaken their potential to change because of their exposure to the complexities of the
adult’s behavior, which they would later on learn and adapt. This claim is supported by the
principle of the Differential Association Theory by Edwin Sutherland (1939), which affirms
that criminal behavior is learned from people whom the child interacts on a daily basis,
which goes the same for bringing child offenders into adult jails where there were no role
models to look up to. It only increases the child’s criminal probability in the future through
letting them associate with adult criminals who directly and indirectly instill wickedness on a
child’s mind through their words and actions. In addition to that, limiting the child offenders
access to the most appropriate rehabilitation and intervention suitable for their cases and
conditions would only make their behavior worse because of the thought that they were
once again neglected, like what they have felt from their respective home environments.
In summary, children who are in conflict with the law must still be given a chance to
be treated as such. It is important as well to provide facilities that would shape child
offenders into better young people rather than transforming them into hardened criminals.
Among these feasible programs and facilities are offering education, counseling, substance
abuse treatment, recreation activities, etc., which the current system lacks.