Because you can't catch the big fish, you settle for the fingerlings.
Because you can't catch the mastermind, you arrest the house guard.
Because you can't improve the economy, and can't abolish corruption, you blame it to population.
Why can't we give the right medicine to the disease?
A bill is being pushed to lower the age of children that may be jailed for delinquency. As it is, a person below 18 years old who commits a crime will be sent to DSWD and some government agency in charge of the delinquents, but not to jail.
Adults have gone so scared, they want child criminals: killers, thieves, drug users, drug pushers and rapists to be sent to jail. Then what? Earn a degree in crime while staying in jail with free board and lodging?
Are our prisons good enough for children? Have we not seen enough gore in city and national jails for adults, we want to throw in children too? Have we reached the renaissance of jail management that getting in prison is now corrective rather than punitive?
Yes, let us punish the children because our society has gone blind. We have children becoming parents at the first strike of puberty. Do we offer them condoms and contraceptives to avoid pregnancy? Or do we offer shelter, food, education, and care?
Let us punish the children committing crimes from petty to bizarre. That is the easiest way, so much easier than taking care of them, right?
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