Rep. Edcel Lagman calls on the Senate to reject draconian and regressive measures which it has prioritized for consideration in the last few session days of the 17th Congress like the following:

1. Revival of the death penalty

   The unsubstantiated claim that the death penalty is a fitting response to criminality, will restore respect for laws, is a path to achieve justice, and is geared towards genuine reform in the criminal justice system, are not impressed with compelling reasons because:

   • Data show that the death penalty is not a deterrent to the commission of crimes even as the crime rate has gone down.

   • Punitive justice is not the avenue to achieve justice because vengeance is never justice.

   • The imposition of capital punishment is not a precursor to judicial reforms.

2. Lowering of the age of criminal responsibility

   • Neuroscientific research documents that the brains of children do not fully develop until their early 20s meaning children between the ages of 12 to 15 may still have reduced discernment to justify the imposition of criminal culpability on them.

   • It will not result in lower crime rates. Data show that children commit only 1.72% of reported crimes and most of them are poverty-induced crimes like theft.

   • The present Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 must be fully implemented with the assurance of adequate funding for non-penal institutions and programs for children in conflict with the law.

   • Children must not be exposed to the adversities of prosecutory and judicial processes just because government has failed to implement the juvenile justice law.

   • Children in conflict with the law are bound to be confined in jail-like facilities, and no prison is fit for a child.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN