Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Children are the priceless gift from God and are the treasure of one family.

The family and the community have the primal role in shaping the totality of these

children. However, due some circumstances some children deviate from the standard

norms and become in conflict with the promulgated laws. Mental health professionals

describe delinquency as a pattern of bad or disruptive behaviour, such as bulling and

lying, which may lead to more serious anti-social activities, such as fighting and

stealing. If not corrected, bad juvenile behaviour can have far-reaching consequence

such as serious bodily injury, arrest or death, for both you and your teen.

Moreover, one of the factors that lead to the bad behavior of the teenager now

a days is coming from the biological influences which shows that those children who

are engage in the conflict with the law needs more attention. Furthermore, biological

issues can also lead to bad juvenile behavior. In some cases, biological factors can

be remedied or at least mitigated through medical treatment and cognitive therapy.

The child’s environment is a catalyst for bad behaviour. Failure to make

friends at school or poor academic performance can be the cause of juvenile

delinquency. Poverty and living in a dangerous neighbourhood will sometimes lead

children to engage in criminal activities. If your child has easy access to drugs, alcohol,

cigarettes or weapons, he may turn to risky behaviour, as a way to escape the

pressure of what he feels is an unhappy life. Dogget (2016) comes into realization that
the hypothesis was accurate when conducted a study and found out that the least

amount of structure the family provides the more likely the child will be driven to

committing delinquent activities.

A study was conducted on the influence of sibling on adolescent

delinquent behaviour. The study examines sibling influences on adolescent

delinquency at age 14, using data from an Australian longitudinal study of 374 same-

and mixed-sex sibling pairs. Based on maternal and self-reports, a moderately strong

association between siblings’ delinquency is found. The relationship remains

significant controlling for childhood aggression and family environment factors

measured during childhood (age 5) and adolescence (age 14), using both

standardized instruments and new scales. This effect varies according to the sex

composition of the sibling pair and is stronger for males and those whose parents have

been arrested. The need for increased attention to sibling influences by researchers

and prevention practitioners is discussed (Fagan and Najman, 2013).

In the Philippines, where the plight of majority of the poor remains largely

unaddressed, many places become breeding grounds for youth offenders. While many

of these children were able to rise from the rut, proving that poverty isn’t a justifiable

excuse for committing crime and thousands of other juveniles have failed to get out of

the trap and are forced to break the law primarily to survive.

The Philippine law is very clear that the Local Government Units (LGU) shall

be the primary player in implementing the Delinquency Prevention Program which

involves the allocation of budget for homes and counsellor as part of the program

implementation. However it is very evident that most of the LGU do not adhere to this.
 With all the aforementioned cited in this study, the researchers, did not come

across readings involving with these indicators which are applied in the local setting.

Further, the researchers found the importance to pursue the study as a new

contribution to knowledge of research specifically this one that deals with the

delinquency act among Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL). Considerably, the

results of this study would determine the prevalence of youth delinquency in children’s

conflict with the law, in the area where the researchers conducted their study.
Objectives of the Study

This study aim to determine the prevalence of youth delinquency

among CICL.

Specifically, this study will seek to answer the following questions:

1. To determine the demographic profile of the respondents in terms

of:

1.1 Age

1.2 Gender

1.3 Family Background

2. To determine the prevalence of youth delinquency among

CICL in terms of:

2.1 internal factors

2.2 external factors

3. To determine the significant difference of youth delinquency

among CICL when analyze by demographic profile of the

respondents.

Hyphothesis

There is no significance difference between the external and internal factors on

the actions influencing the youth delinquency among CICL.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study will focus on finding the prevalence of youth delinquency among

CICL. The respondents on this study were 50 teenagers’ ages 14-17 years old in

selected Barangay of Lupon, Davao Oriental.

The respondents of this study will be the teenagers residing at the Municipality

of Lupon, Davao Oriental.

Significance of the Study

As a result of this study, the researchers will seek to assess the factors

influencing the delinquency act among CICL in Lupon, Davao Oriental.

Specifically, this benefits the following:

Local Government Unit. This study will help them determine what will be the

remedies to be taken in order to decrease the numbers of children in conflict with the

law.

Parents. This research will be a great help for the parents to understand well

the behaviour of these children and how do these parents handle children involve in

the conflict with the law.

Future Researcher. The result of this study would serve as data in studying

the same or similar topic of which the present researcher had undertaken.
Theoretical Background of the Study

Some of the more prominent ideas that have been proposed to explain such

behaviors are found in problem behavior theory (Jessor, 1977) and Bronfenbrenner’s

socio-ecological model (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). A uniting concept among these

theoretical orientations is the notion that individuals act upon a set of beliefs, which

are developed and influenced through interactions with the environment and

attachments to others. The perceived environment system consists of both proximal

and distal factors which are linked to an individual’s behavior, such as social controls,

models, and support, with proximal factors being more directly influential on behavior.

The personality system includes an individual’s personality characteristics,

temperament, as well as other person logical components, such as moral values or

beliefs. The behavior system entails the actual behavior, either conventional or

problematic, that an individual engages in (Jessor, 1977).

The theoretical framework of this study is informed by the integration of

Bronfenbrenner’s socio-ecological model (1979).This theory looks at a child’s

development within the background of the system of relationships that make up his or

her environment. Bronfenbrenner’s theory defines complex layers of environment,

each having an outcome on a child’s development. (Paquette & Ryan, 2001). The

interaction between factors in the child’s maturing biology, his immediate family and

community environment stimulates and drives the child’s development. Changes or

conflict in any one level will ripple all the way through other levels. To study a child’s

behavioural influences then, we must look not only at the child and her or his

immediate environment, but also at the interaction with the larger environment as well

(Paquette & Ryan, 2001).

 The cornerstone of Bronfenbrenner’s model is a belief that individual human

development, socialisation explicitly, arises as an outcome of interactions within and

between multiple surrounded ecological systems impacting upon the developing

young person (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Bronfenbrenner (1979: 16) states that “to

assert that human development is a product of interaction between the growing

organism and its environment is to state what is almost a commonplace in behavioural

science,” and put more clearly, “the principle asserts that behaviour evolves as a

function of the interplay between person and environment, with paying special

attention to the interaction between the two”. The social ecological model proposes

that the progression of human development occurs when mutual exchanges become

apparent between the individual and the environment, which are both mutually

influential within the context of their ecological systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).

 Conceptual Framework

Input Input

Objective 1 Objective 2
>Age
>External Factors
>Sex >Internal Factors
>Family Background

Output

Objective 3
The significance difference of youth
delinquency among CICL when analysis by
demographic profile of the respondents.

Figure 1. Conceptual Paradigm of the Study

In figure 1, it shows the input and output of the study. The first input shows the

demographic profile of the respondents in which age, gender and family background

must be stipulated as it is one of the objective in the study. The external and internal

factors as the second input shows the factors that define how those children being put

into crime in which they are under the custody of their parents.
Definition of Terms

Following terms are operationally defined for clarity of the study.

Child – refers to a person under the age of eighteen (18) years old. Basically,

it is under with the custody of the parents who are allegedly involve in the conflict of

the law.

Children in conflict with the law – refers to a child who is alleged as, accused

of, or adjudged as, having committed an offense under Philippine development. They

are referring to a group of individual under 18 years old who are hostile to the

implementing rules as stipulated in the code of the Philippines.