Thoughts Behind Action: Recidivism among Children-in-Conflict with the Law
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31098/hsc.v1i1.1607Keywords:
CICL, Recidivism, Interpretative Phenomenological AnalysisAbstract
This study examined the recidivism of Children-in-Conflict with the Law (CICL) using three (3) theories, the Ecological Systems Theory, Labeling Theory, and Differential Association Theory. Utilizing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), children ages 15 years and 1 day but not more than 18 years old with pending cases at law who had previously committed offenses at the Barangay or Prosecutor level in Second Chance Home of Calamba (SCH) were asked utilizing a semi-structured interview. To understand how the theories influenced the persistence of recidivism among CICL, the researcher examined their physical, social, and cultural backgrounds. This study generated eleven (11) superordinate themes which were: Dysfunctional Households; Multifaceted Issues in Early School Leaving; Inconsistent Community Support; Offender Profiling; Perceived Psychological Distress due to Formal Labels; Social Marginalization; Inexistent CICL Segregation; Social Modeling; and Delinquent Peers and Family.
This study aimed to inform policies and practices that may aid in lowering or stopping CICL recidivism by studying how these theories manifest in participants' actual experiences. By identifying the risk factors associated with recidivism, researchers and policymakers may develop personalized prevention programs that address the core causes of delinquency and aid at-risk adolescents. Investigating recidivism among CICL can result in safer communities and better outcomes for young people involved in the criminal system. This study also proposed an enhanced diversion program for CICL who are currently receiving rehabilitation, CICL who are released as minors, and CICL who are released as adults.
References
Idris, Vol. 17, (Dec)(ISSN 0128-309). https://www.ijcwed.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/IJCWED17_036.pdf
DSWD rehabilitation center paves way for life-changing experience of a former child in conflict with the law | Department of Social Welfare and Development. (2019, June 10).
Elsaesser, C., Kennedy, T. M., & Tredinnick, L. (2020a). The role of relationship proximity to witnessed community violence and youth outcomes. Journal of Community Psychology, 48(2), 562–575. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22275
Ellis, P. (2016). Phenomenological Research: Vol. Volume 12. Wounds UK. ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210222192833.htm
Guidelines in the Conduct of Diversion for Children-in-Conflict with the Law. (2008). Department of Social Welfare and Development, Administrative Order No. 7.
Kakonzi Mwangangi, R., & Welch, B. C. (2019). The Role of Family in Dealing with Juvenile Delinquency. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2019, 7, 52-63, ISSN Print: 2327-5952, ISSN Online: 2327-5960.
Kim, D., Lee, J. Y., Cho, S., Peguero, A. A., & Misuraca, J. A. (2019). From bullying victimization to delinquency in South Korean adolescents: Exploring the pathways using a nationally representative sample. Children and Youth Services Review, 98, 305–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.01.018
Kumar, S. (2021a). The Rebirth of Delinquent ‘Adult-Children’: Criminal Capacity, Socio-economic Systems, and the Malleability of Penality of Child Delinquency in India. In Springer eBooks (pp. 107–139). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68759-5_6
Lee, J. R. (2017). Contextualizing Informal Labeling Effect on Adolescent Recidivism in South Korea. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 62(10), 3117–3134. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624x17722785
Manuel, E. S. (2019, December 29). The Long-Term Effects of Rehabilitation Program for Children in Conflict with the Law. https://ijels.com/detail/the-long-term-effects-of-rehabilitation-program-for-children-in-conflict-with-the-law/
Nyariki, O. T. (2019). Effects of custodial sentence on recidivism at Shimo La Tewa Prisons in Mombasa County, Kenya. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/EFFECTS-OF-CUSTODIAL-SENTENCE-ON-RECIDIVISM-AT-LA-Nyariki/77be20c9d452a1edf5238a96c70a0d86b5d42945
Nwafor, K. C. (2022, July 3). Negative public perception and reoffending of discharged offenders in Anambra State, Nigeria. https://journals.aphriapub.com/index.php/SS/article/view/1517
Republic Act No. 9344 | GOVPH. (2006, April 28). Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2006/04/28/republic-act-no-9344-s-2006/
Robert, E. W. (2022). Criminal association and recidivism in selected prisons in Rivers State. theusajournals.com. https://doi.org/10.37547/ijlc/Volume02Issue07-02
Sadiq, P. H. Q. U. (2021, December 31). Parental acceptance and rejection as determinants of psychological difficulties in male juvenile delinquents. http://pjpku.com/index.php/pjp/article/view/193
Skovlund, H., & Larsen, N. H. (2021). Recidivism into Criminal Gangs as a Problem of Social Identity—Some Applications from the Perspective of Pragmatism. British Journal of Social Work, 52(4), 2217–2233. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab183
Surong, R., & Lyngdoh, A. (2020). A study on the causes of juvenile delinquency and its prevention by the community. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 8(4). https://doi.org/10.25215/0804.138
Valenty, L. F. (2021). The self-esteem sentence: Evidence for Labeling Theory. University of California Riverside. https://escholarship.org/content/qt3jx032fb/qt3jx032fb_noSplash_bd314ff6e35e815a4756d76c361695d8.pdf
Walters, G. (2021). The moderating effect of prosocial peers on the relationships between peer delinquency, neutralization, and violent offending. Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society, VOLUME 22(ISSUE 3), E-ISSN 2332-886X.
Walton, G. M., Okonofua, J. A., Cunningham, K. G., Hurst, D. J., Pinedo, A., Weitz, E., Ospina, J., Tate, H., & Eberhardt, J. L. (2021). Lifting the Bar: A Relationship-Orienting Intervention Reduces Recidivism Among Children Reentering School From Juvenile Detention. Psychological Science, 32(11), 1747–1767. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976211013801
Ward, S., Williams, J., & Van Ours, J. C. (2021). Delinquency, Arrest and Early School Leaving*. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 83(2), 411–436. https://doi.org/10.1111/obes.12393
Downloads
Article Metrics
- 0 times
- 0 times
Published
Citation Check
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Humanities, Society, and Community

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Content Licensing, Copyright, and Permissions
1. License
Humanities, Society, and Community (HSC) has CC-BY NC as the optimal license for the publication, distribution, use, and reuse of scholarly work for non-commercial purpose. The non-commercial use of the article will be governed by the Creative Commons Attribution license as currently displayed on Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Creative Commons License
2. Author’s Warranties
The author warrants that the article is original, written by stated author(s), has not been published before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author and free of any third party rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author(s).
3. User Rights
Humanities, Society, and Community (HSC) objective is to disseminate articles published are as free as possible. Under the Creative Commons license, this journal permits users to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work for non-commercial purposes only. Users will also need to attribute authors and this journal on distributing works in the journal.
4. Rights of Authors
Authors retain the following rights:
Copyright, and proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights. The right to use the substance of the article in future own works, including lectures and books, The right to reproduce the article for own purposes, The right to self-archive the article, the right to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the article's published version (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal (Humanities, Society, and Community).
The author has a non-exclusive publishing contract with a publisher and the work is published with a more restrictive license, the author retains all the rights to publish the work elsewhere, including commercially, because she/he is not subject to the conditions of her / his own license, regardless of the type of CC license chosen.
5. Co-Authorship
If the article was jointly prepared by other authors, the signatory of this form warrants that he/she has been authorized by all co-authors to sign this agreement on their behalf, and agrees to inform his/her co-authors of the terms of this agreement.
6. Termination
This agreement can be terminated by the author or Humanities, Society, and Community (HSC) upon two months’ notice where the other party has materially breached this agreement and failed to remedy such breach within a month of being given the terminating party’s notice requesting such breach to be remedied. No breach or violation of this agreement will cause this agreement or any license granted in it to terminate automatically or affect the definition of Humanities, Society, and Community (HSC).
7. Royalties
This agreement entitles the author to no royalties or other fees. To such extent as legally permissible, the author waives his or her right to collect royalties relative to the article in respect of any use of the article by This agreement can be terminated by the author or Humanities, Society, and Community (HSC) upon two months’ notice where the other party has materially breached this agreement and failed to remedy such breach within a month of being given the terminating party’s notice requesting such breach to be remedied. No breach or violation of this agreement will cause this agreement or any license granted in it to terminate automatically or affect the definition of Humanities, Society, and Community (HSC) or its sublicense.
8. Miscellaneous
Humanities, Society, and Community (HSC) will publish the article (or have it published) in the journal if the article’s editorial process is successfully completed and Humanities, Society, and Community (HSC) or its sublicensee has become obligated to have the article published. Humanities, Society, and Community (HSC) may conform the article to a style of punctuation, spelling, capitalization, referencing and usage that it deems appropriate. The author acknowledges that the article may be published so that it will be publicly accessible and such access will be free of charge for the readers.