“Victimological Analysis of Former Child in Conflict With the Law”

Abstract

Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL) refers to a child who is alleged as, accused of, or adjudged as, having committed an offense under Philippine Laws. The purpose of this study was to elaborate the reasons such minor offenders commit crime, to determine the specific challenges that minor offenders faced in their lives following their involvement to crime, to determine strategies or coping mechanism applied by the minor offenders in overcoming challenges and to identify the realization of the participants after committing a crime. Many past researches had not thoroughly discussed the reasons these minors committed crimes, the challenges they faced after being involved in criminal activities, and how they managed to cope with those challenges in their lives. This was a descriptive qualitative research method that identified the influences and causes against former children in conflict with the law. The study conducted was mostly murder cases and few in theft, however it utilized themes to determine the specific background of each participant, such as family-driven motivation, lack of awareness of the gravity of crime, poverty and hunger, desire to regain what was lost, family and social support, religious engagement, self-reflection and rebuilding, regret and desire for redemption, commitment to prevent others from following the same path, and spiritual renewal. The challenges experienced by the participants include difficulty in finding jobs, humiliated, also psychological and emotional problems. Thus, it suggested that create programs that will help former CICL move forward, especially by providing job opportunities and addressing the stigma they faced