A Case Study

Presented to the Faculty of College of Criminal Justice

Lyceum of the Philippines University - Batangas

In Partial Fulfilment
of the Requirements for the Subject
Foundations of Criminology

Hyman Jay H. Blanco

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 CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction
The prevalence of criminality in the country Has been a critical problem.

No matter how efficient and effective the law enforcers in maintainaning peace

and order, the problems of criminality have not yet been eradicated. The main

culprits are poverty, aggressiveness, alcoholism, drug abuse and mental

disorders.

Crime is as old as mankind itself. Schafer stated that ever since the

biblical misconduct happened during the period of Adam and Eve, although

cultures of humanity have developed and rules have been formed since then,

violence has continued. Crime has been present from the very start of humanity

and has never stopped. Furthermore, crime has become a common societal

phenomenon that it is deliberated now as part of an organizations functional

element (Schafer, 1976).

There are different beliefs as to what cause people to commit crimes. The

common misconception is that crime is caused by poverty or other forms of

social deprivation, but those are just a few of the many possible reasons. One

example that can support this is a concept introduced during the 1940s by

Edward Sutherland called white-collar crime. Sutherland diverted the attention

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of the people towards crimes committed by individuals that belong to the upper

class and corporate elite. There is no certain and single solution with regards to

stopping crime, but there are ways to prevent them before things get out of

hand. In order for crime to be fought, people must become aware of the existing

laws and the crimes happening in their environment. Law enforcers are a very

important part of the society, because they can dictate what must be avoided

and decide what punishments to give to those who disobey.

Presently, the Philippines law enforcement suffers from numerous

methods of misconducts among its personnel. These greatly contribute to the

diminishing public trust and confidence of the citizens toward the police and high

crime rate in the country which the team wants to address. This study intends to

be able to explore crime causation concepts such as environment, culture,

hereditary, health status and geographic information of crimes to amend

community-based Philippine policing.

The main goal intended for the study of this research is to be able to

explore crime causation and development concepts in applying to community-

based crime prevention.

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 CHAPTER II

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research design served as a masterplan of the methods and procedures

that should be used In collecting and analysing of the data needed by the

researcher.

Extensive research about the topic was conducted to understand how crime

causation theories may be validated through an in depth analysis and in person

interview with a convicted person serving sentence in Batangas Provincial jail,

waiting for the transfer on the national penitentiary. Benchmarking was

performed by studying the theoretical crime causation approaches which are

most likely relevant to the said study. The proponents conducted of interviews

and ocular visits at the Batangas Provincial jail in order to capture their actual

insights and unearth the actual issues concerning the said study. Letters of

approvals and requests are given to ask approval and permission to conduct the

said study. The respondent where chosen through the personal willingness of

the subject to answer questions relevant to the study. A self-made interview

questions are given, subject to considerations laid down by the subject.

Upon the approval of the request from the provincial warden of Batangas

Provincial jail, the researcher conducted the interview. All of the responses were

gathered and put into writing for safe keeping.

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 CHAPTER III

RESULTS

The researcher had an informal interview with the subject, in the name of

Edgardo Guitierez Herjas, 43 years of age and a resident of Sitio Pansol,

Barangay Biga, Calatagan, Province of Batangas. The subject committed the

grave offense of murder, in violation of Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code of

the Philippines. Last May 9, 2009. The said incident transpired during the feast

of Brgy. Talisay of same Municipality. The subject used an illegally possessed

fire arm and shot to death the victim whose name was not given intentionally by

the subject in the covered located in the same barangay. The victim sustained a

gunshot wound at the lower back portion of the head that lead to the sudden

death of the said victim.

The subject was the 5fth among the 7 siblings born out passion and love

of their parents who happened to be a farmer and a simple housewife. The

subject was not been able to finish his primary education and forced to stop at

the age of 10 due to reasons of financial shortage. For some reason, the subject

worked as a labour worker or a construction worker given the chance and

opportunity from friends and other persons ij the community. At the age of 25,

the subject worked as a conductor on a certain bus company and been

employed for 5 years. The latter, after being employed for couple of years as a

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conductor, been hired as a bus driver until the said incident happened. The

subject admitted using prohibited drugs right then and there, the time he was

enjoying his work as a bus driver. And eventually, being consumed by the said

substance. To battle dizziness and sleep are the sole reason the subject argued

the researcher for using prohibited drugs but latter on consumed the latter.

The later said victim of the subject was a then drinking acquaintance of

the subject. One cold, summer night, according to the subject, theyve had a

drinking session and eventually resorted to a heated argument. The morning

after, using an illegally acquired revolver, the subject, then and there met the

victim alongside a certain basketball court and shot to death the victim and fled

on foot. The subject made mentioned that he fled and took advantage of leaving

the said municipality and evade the hands of justice. Later on, after couple of

years of fleeing, the subject was put to the hands of justice last June 30, 2014

and 3 years after, was sentenced and been waiting for the transfer to National

Bilibid Prision.

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 CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Crimes are rampant and criminals are everywhere. Street crimes are

committed everyday even in broad daylight. Criminals operate with impunity as

if they fear nobody. As a result, crime rises fats and steadily. It affects the

whole economy as well as peace and order condition, business and economy,

political system and other aspects of daily life. There can be no progress when

there are chaos and disorder. Criminality thrives when economy is growing.

Indeed, crime rate is high in urban cities where business and commerce

operates. However, there multiple factors that affects the crime causations.

There are several theories that explain criminal behaviours (Dechant,

2000). The oldest known explanatory model of behaviour is that of

demonology. It is used to be thought that criminal behaviour is the result of a

possessed mind and or body and the only way to exorcise the evil is usually by

some torturous means. The key is a focus on the individual rather that his or

her environment or any social force. Furthermore, Freud has his own views on

what makes a criminal. He proposes that much deviance resulted from an

excessive sense of guilt as a result of an overdeveloped superegos feel guilty

for no reason and wish to be punished in order to relieve this guilt they are

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feeling. Accordingly, crime is not the result of a criminal personality but of a

poorly integrated psyche. According to Albert Banduras theory, delinquents

and criminal behaviour is learned via the same psychological processes as any

other behaviour: through learned and repeated exposure to rewards that

supports the behaviour. Bandura believes that people observe others

behaviours and decide wether or not to adopt them (Soriano, 2008).

Yochelson and Samenow (1993), put forward the theory of free will to

explain criminal behaviour. According to them, the roots of criminality lie in the

way people think and ,make their decisions. Also criminals think and act

differently from other people, even from a very young age. Criminals are, by

nature, irresponsible, impulsive, self centred, and driven by fear and anger.

Deterministic explanations of crime result from believing the criminals who are

seeking sympathy. Lastly crimes occur because the criminals will it or choose

it, and it is this choice they make that rehabilitation must deal with.

Because of lack of education, most of the people become ignorant of the

laws and the repercussions they face once they commit violations thereof

(Soriano, 2008) They do not know many of their rights, the due process of law

and many related matters. Because of their scanty lack of awareness of its

repercussions, many criminals, especially first offenders, readily perpetrate

crimes based on mistaken notion or false belief.

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 In terms of age, as people grow older, they take on more personal

responsibilities like work or career and social responsibilities like children or a

partner which makes them consider the effect their behaviour might have on

people they love or value (Lee, 2006)

Another major problem in crime existence is poverty; many authorities in

the field of criminal justice say that poverty is a major cause of crime. This not

of course to say that it follows that a person who wallows wealth cannot e a

criminal. Many crimes are committed by even rich people. Furthermore many

people mired with poverty, have remained respectable and exemplary citizens.

It is evident that poverty per se is not the only reason or cause but it is a major

predispositive factor (Ross and Richards, 2007)

This chapter presents the conclusions drawn from the study and the

recommendation.

Conclusions

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are made:

1. .Crimes are not primarily driven by poverty. Poverty might not be a

reason but a major predispositive factor.

2. Age is not a factor on crime causation. It is evident and true that teen

agers usually commit crime but that does not mean that all criminals

are teen agers.

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 3. Furthermore, crimes can be caused by reason of some personal act

and not induced by other external factor. It is a human free will.

4. Finally, peoples impulsiveness and sudden aggressiveness drives

them to commit crimes even without being concerned of the

repercussions of the same.

Recommendations

Based on the foregoing conclusions, the researcher offers the following

recommendations:

1. Crime prevention must start on educational institutions. Young

people must be given strong awareness as to what could be the

repercussions of engaging crimes.

2. The Philippine National Police should conduct seminars to the local

residents about the crimes commonly committed and how not to be

delivered on putting justice onto someones hands. PNP must

encourage the general public to attend a seminar about peace and

order. They must invite another concern agencies or organization

involve that the priority is the safety of the public. Another way to

generate community support to the police is the dissemination of

banner of flyers about being a catalyst of peace and order.

3. The future researchers can conduct a similar study in the future to

further validate the results of the present study.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. BOOKS

Manwong R. and Foronda,M.(2009) Criminal Justice System: Settings and Procedure.

Manila: Wisemans Book Trading,Inc.

Reyes, LB. (2006).The Revised Penal Code Criminal Law 16th Edition Book 2,
Quezon City: Rex Printing Company

Soriano, OG (2006) Introduction to Criminology with Psychology of Crimes,

Quezon City: Great Books Publishing

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