NCJ Number
74772
Date Published
1980
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes the basic objectives and components of community-based programs that available to minors who have committed less serious offenses in the Philippines.
Abstract
Presidential Decree No. 603, otherwise known as the Child and Youth Welfare Code and issued in December 1974, legally defines special categories of youths, including youthful offenders, and directs the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) to provide comprehensive services to assist in youth development. Even before this decree, the MSSD had implemented an Integrated Human Resource Development Program for Youth (IHRDPY) encompassing three program areas: economic self-sufficiency, community responsibilities, and youth with special needs. Goals of the IHRDPY were to encourage positive social and cultural values, to stimulate youths to engage in economically productive activities, to protect the vulnerable youth such as the delinquent and the handicapped, and to provide support to nongovernment youth programs. The MSSD views delinquency as a community problem. Consequently, the Ministry, through the IHRDPY, provides for the intervention of MSSD social workers with law enforcement agencies, the courts, and other agencies to prevent further involvement of offenders in the criminal justice system and to reintegrate them into the community. Regional rehabilitation centers for youthful offenders are only used as a last resort. Community-based programs for youthful offenders include diversion, informal probation, probation service, after-care services. A rigorous three-phase program for training of social workers by the MSSD has been devised to insure effective delivery of social services to youth offenders. The MSSD is also enjoined by Decree No. 603 to coordinate with other youth agencies to promote a unified system of youth programs. An organization chart displays the functioning of the Philippine juvenile justice system and of community-based programs.