Why do Filipinos commit crime? Can we use the classical deterrence theory to explain Filipino criminality? What key concepts in deterrence theory can be used to explain why Filipinos commit violent, property, sex, drugs, and even, political and environmental crimes? In what ways can deterrence theory be expanded to make it more compatible with the Philippine socio-cultural, political, and legal realities? What are the policy implications of deterrence theory in the Philippine...
Additional revisions to the theory in the 1980s introduced the concept of “perceptual deterrence,” which suggests that subjective perceptions of certainty, swiftness, and severity are more likely to affect behavior than objective or actual levels of punishments. That is, even if the death penalty is the actual punishment as mandated in the books, if people perceive that they will not be as severely punished, then they will not be deterred.
However, the Philippines has also one of the slowest paces of criminal litigation in the world. From time of arrest to time of conviction, it takes an average of three years. In some cases, the accused can stay in detention for 20 years and still be unconvicted. Thus, swiftness of punishments, a key concept in deterrence theory, is compromised.Additionally, the conviction rate of police and prosecutors is quite low.
Thus, the certainty, swiftness, and severity of punishments for the rich Filipinos are qualitatively different from the poor Filipinos. From a deterrence perspective, and tweaked to make it congruent to Philippine realities, these are the reasons why Filipinos commit crimes.Solutions to these situations must be multi-pronged. First, there must be efforts to improve the criminal justice system. We need to address the very slow pace of criminal litigation in the Philippines.