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I found a bit of information on the age of criminal responsibility question. Plus a listing of a few countries and their laws. I'm sure more complete lists could be googled...
The first part comes from UN documents on children's rights:
“States parties shall seek to promote the establishment of laws, procedures, authorities and institutions specifically applicable to children alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law, and, in particular:
(a) the establishment of a minimum age below which children shall be presumed not to have the capacity to infringe the penal law;
(b) whenever appropriate and desirable, measures for dealing with such children without resorting to judicial proceedings, providing that human rights and legal safeguards are fully respected.”
Under Article 40(4) of the Convention, it is further provided that:
“A variety of dispositions, such as care, guidance and supervision orders; counselling; probation; foster care; education and vocational training programmes and other alternatives to institutional care shall be available to ensure that children are dealt with in a manner appropriate to their well-being and proportionate both to their circumstances and the offence.”
2.3 The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules) were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1985. They are not binding in international law, but states are invited to adopt them. Article 4 provides that:
“In those legal systems recognising the concept of the age of criminal responsibility for juveniles, the beginning of that age shall not be fixed at too low an age level, bearing in mind the facts regarding emotional, mental and intellectual maturity.”
While neither the Beijing Rules nor the Convention purport to fix a minimum age of criminal responsibility of universal application, the Committee on the Rights of the Child of the United Nations has criticised jurisdictions which it believes adopt too low an age.
Countries and Age of Criminal Responsibility
Territories
Cyprus 7
Ireland 7
Liechtenstein 7
Switzerland 7
Scotland (UK) 8
Northern Ireland (UK) 8
Malta 9
England and Wales (UK) 10
Greece 12
Netherlands 12
San Marino 12
Turkey 12
France 13
Austria 14
Bulgaria 14
Germany 14
Hungary 14
Italy 14
Latvia 14
Lithuania 14
Romania 14
Slovenia 14
Czech Republic 15
Denmark 15
Estonia 15
Finland 15
Iceland 15
Norway 15
Slovakia 15
Sweden 15
Andorra 16
Poland 16
Portugal 16
"Always forgive your enemies...nothing annoys them quite so much." Oscar Wilde
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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There is a difference between being "over the age of criminal responsibility" and "being tried as an adult". I can speak onoy for my own nation
The former is cut and dried. It presumes, at a certain age, that the child understands the full moral and asocial implications of their actions and that punishment will happen if found guilty
The latter is the method and mechanism of the trial and the sentencing implications. Children (irrespective of the age of criminal responsibility) are tried in a juvenile court with their identities protected from the public, and give evidence in such a manner that their intimidation by court surroundings is minimised. When sentence is passed due regard is given to many things including their age and, if necessary, psychiatric reports. Sentences are served in institutions appropriate for age as well as the crime committed. In certain circumstances, after sentencing and while the sentence is being pronounced reporting restrictions on the identity of the GUILTY child is released. Thsi is usually, but not always, when that child is close to the age of 16 when sentenced.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Steve
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Really getting into it |
Location: London, England
Registered: November 2006
Messages: 465
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David's list did not mention Israel. For what it's worth here is information I found on the Internet; it is written by an official of Israel's Ministry of Justice.
"The age of criminal responsibility in Israel is 12 years of age. The Youth Law codifies the special procedures and punishments or treatments that are to be used concerning minors. Minors are generally tried before Juvenile Courts and there is no waiver procedure in Israel. There are also special rules in relation to the registration of criminal records of youth offenders and the time limits concerning the delivery of information about their criminal records and on the prescription and extinction of the said records."
In 1994 two youngsters, then 13 years old, hijacked a taxi and killed the cab driver "for the fun of it". Because they were not yet 18 it was forbidden to publicize their names. They were tried (in a juvenile court) and found guilty and sentenced to 16 years imprisonment (in a juvenile prison). They would have got one third off for good behaviour which meant that they could have been released when they were about 23 years old.
However, while they were on weekend leave (furlough) from their place of detention in 1998 they stabbed and robbed a storekeeper. The judge this time decided that their names should be made public because they were a menace to the public and were 19 years old when they committed their second offences.
The cabbie's widow decided to sue the boys' parents for some impossible amount of money "for failing to give their children a proper education". It was thrown out of court. The parole officer who authorized a furlough from prison for both boys at the same time was reprimanded.
Here is part of an editorial from one of Israel's more right-wing newspapers from the time of the second trial:
"Last week, the Supreme Court commendably ruled against an appeal by the murderers of taxi driver Derek Roth for their names to remain unpublished. Arbel Aloni and Moshe Ben-Ivgi were teenagers when they hailed Roth's cab and shot him in the back of the head. They were adults when, on a furlough from prison last year, they committed armed robbery. Their lawyer argued that their right to anonymity as minors in the first crime extended to the second. The court found in favor of common sense, nixing a cynical attempt to exploit the privileged legal status of children. Yes, even the worst of child-criminals deserves protection - but from public exposure, not from proper prosecution. Furthermore, the discretion accorded youth in distress should not detract from the monitoring necessary for that reckless age... And the protestations by Aloni's and Ben-Ivgi's mothers that they were "good boys" are belied by their reported bullying, vandalism, and serious insubordination at school. In both cases, oversight was clearly absent."
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