Talk:Age of criminal responsibility

New Zealand
The age for New Zealand is recorded incorrectly as 14. The minimum age of criminal responsibility is legislatively defined as 10 years. 130.195.253.1 (talk) 04:48, 2 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Also the upper age for a "young person" recently increased from the 17th to the 18th birthday. - Cameron Dewe (talk) 11:09, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

Brazil
Braziliam majority is fixed at 18, but responsibility at 12. You can check http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l8069.htm — Preceding unsigned comment added by 177.141.232.163 (talk) 17:14, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Criminal responsibility graduated
This article could be much more accurate if it described both age for criminal responsibility, when children are punishable in milder ways and criminal majority, to when the person becomes punishible by the full extent of the law. England, for example, does really punish children starting from 10, but they are only held imprisonable in a mild extent only when they are 14. Source (in brazilian portuguese, using UNICEF data): http://www.crianca.mppr.mp.br/modules/conteudo/conteudo.php?conteudo=323  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 187.21.30.71 (talk) 16:18, 5 April 2015 (UTC)

Trying as Adults
This article should mention the concept of trying children as adults, an increasingly popular option on many U.S. states. --Cab88 16:21, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Agreed, also could anyone clarify the U.S. situation? - in the text it says that the age is 16 or 18 in most states; in the table it says 7.

Also, in the table, what is the footnote for Columbia and Peru? Robina Fox 10:50, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Iran
I was intrigued by the differentiation between boys and girls in Iran: is this the only country where this is the case? and what is the justification? Robina Fox 15:30, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Nordic situation
As this article attempts to encompass the whole world, it is pertinent to discuss also the situation on the European continent. I am not familiar with the legal systems in Central Europe, but at least all Nordic countries follow the practice of not treating persons under 15 years of age as criminals. This practice has been in use since the Middle Ages. However, the principle of no criminal liability does not mean that such persons are free from all responsibility. First of all, civil liablity is always applicable, although the compensations may be reduced from the full amount, if a minor is in question. In addition, a crime committed by a minor will always be reported to the social authorities, which will investigate the situation of the child's family. Depending on the circumstances of the child, the child may either be placed in counselling or even taken to custody. These measures are taken to secure the child's development, not made as acts of justice. Consequently, they are made as adminstrative decisions, not by court order, although they can be appealed against to an adminstrative court. However, for the child, the overall impact of being placed to a care unit and separated from the parents is not very dissimilar from being in trouble with the law. --MPorciusCato 11:20, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Question
How does this apply to adults who committed crimes as children? (i.e. a person who is now an adult who committed murder as a child) I'm specifically curious about Maryland, but in general, how does this work? I must say trying to find the answer to this question is confusing... I think it's either 7 or 16, with judge's discretion (in Maryland), but that's a bizarre range - can one really be convicted for committing murder as an 8year old, even decades later? Tuf-Kat 04:14, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
 * It depends on how the statute of limitations is formulated. In most European countries, an eight-year-old is a child and cannot commit murder, so the question only applies to the UK and the US. However, if the crime is not covered by the statute of limitations or some similar legal device, you can be convicted, even decades after the crime. For example, in Finland, the statute of limitations does not apply if the crime can carry a punishment of life sentence. The rationale behind this is: If you had been sentenced immediately after the crime, you would still be in prison, so you only get your desserts. --MPorciusCato 09:34, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Ages of criminal responsibility by country table: what is footnote ** for?
In the table under the header Ages of criminal responsibility by country there is a footnote for **, but I see no item in the table with two asterixes.bb 22:19, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I have fixed this historical issue. Someone had changed the United States entry and created a new footnote instead of modifying the exiting US footnote. ThinkingTwice (talk) 23:20, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

What does this sentence mean?
"The following are the minimum ages at which children are subject to penal law with children aged under 18." -- i.e., the phrase "with children under 18". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.101.40.154 (talk) 03:02, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I have fixed this historical issue. Someone had changed the sentiment of the line without re-reading it to ensure it made sense. ThinkingTwice (talk) 23:20, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Horrified
I'm horrified to read that little children 6 y.o. can be prosecuted in some countries and I'm horrified that none of you wrote one line about this istitutional crime! I'm thinking to my little baby, who is a nice little think and doesn't understand anything. What kind of cruel world is this? Traveller, from Italy —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.49.129.227 (talk) 15:11, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * This is an encyclopedia article and not a soapbox. Personally, I'm more horrified by the fact that many countries allow 13-year olds to commit crimes like rape, theft etc. without being punished. --Roentgenium111 (talk) 16:56, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

Article issues
Outside of the table that shows the ages, there are absolutely no references in the text of the article, smacking of original research. I will tag for the time being, but the "essay" part of the article needs citations. Vulture19 (talk) 17:07, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Crimes against family?
We need to consider crimes against your family.

I was over 7 (I think that's the age of liability in California) when I stole from Becca and Daniel. Is that a matter for charges each time?

Juvenile court proceedings
"The following are the minimum ages at which children may be charged with a criminal offence." - every state has supplanted the common law with the creation of a juvenile court system. So in most states children cannot be charged with criminal offenses with a few exceptions. In juvenile court a child is alleged to b delinquent for having committed what would be a criminal offense for an adult. Many cases provide that certain juvenile cases can be transferred to regular courts for trial as an adult.

Merge "Child imprisonment" into "Age of criminal responsibility"
The "Child imprisonment" article as of today is basically nonsense as an article in its own right; it discusses issues to do with the "Age of criminal responsibility". The current content of "Child imprisonment" needs to be merged into "Age of criminal responsibility"; and this article should be independent of "Defence of "Defence of infancy". There is I think reason for all three articles, but their content should be distinct:
 * Age of criminal responsibility: discusses the age at which children are deemed responsible for their actions, ages in different countries, etc.
 * Child imprisonment: the practice of imprisoning and otherwise punishing children for crimes. E.g. in England children were imprisoned, transported to Australia, and executed for petty theft.
 * Defence of infancy: maybe should be Legal defence of infancy: issues to do with the legal representation and protection from punishment of infants. (This text in Talk of all 3 articles)

Pol098 (talk) 17:57, 3 September 2010 (UTC)


 * I merged it.5.12.65.148 (talk) 11:32, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

State and jurisdiction
The word "state" is used throughout this article but it is confusing because does it mean sovereign state or province as in US state? Either way it is incorrect because in the UK there are three jurisdictions one of which covers England and the province of Wales (for want of a better term for a part of the UK with devolution). -- PBS (talk) 07:50, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

General article improvement in 2015/2016
The article as it stands is not of very high quality. I think the most useful feature is the list of ages by jurisdiction, but this doesn't cover all countries and often lacks citations. The article generally could do with a re-write and improved body of citations. I know a reasonable amount about the topic and intend to fix some of these issues. I will mention any major steps taken here for reference. However, I am new to wikipedia editing. If I screw anything up, anyone can tell me here. Implication (talk) 13:07, 4 April 2015 (UTC)

December 2015 update: I propose to improve the table in three ways: (1) To remove the reference column, adding references directly to the age column. (2) To add another column for secondary ages of criminal responsibility. Many countries have one absolute minimum age and one secondary age applicable only to a particular subset of offences (typically more serious offences). It would be useful to include this. (3) To continue to add jurisdictions and provide primary sources. Implication (talk) 15:41, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

Requested move 25 August 2020

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: Consensus to move page. (non-admin closure) —  Young Forever (talk)   16:27, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Defense of infancy → Age of criminal responsibility – More common name in more countries (google hits 537k vs 147k), and it is used throughout the article Laterthanyouthink (talk) 11:29, 25 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Support Rreagan007 (talk) 16:01, 25 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Support per proposer; it is a clearer and less "legalese" title; and I believe "defense of infancy" is a common-law-specific term whereas the new title is more general. - htonl (talk) 18:25, 25 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks, both, and yes -, I think you're right. I'm not legally trained, but this legal wiki gives some guidance on this. The article will need a bit of rewriting, either way. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 02:19, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

Age of Accountability
I don’t agree that Age of Accountability should redirect to this page. It is a theological and moral concept independent of the age of criminality as presented here. For those who are not aware, this is tied to the age where a child is no longer considered to be sheltered from the responsibilities of an adult before God, and is thus accountable for moral decisions. Theologically, there is an interaction with the doctrine of infant baptism.

Some discussion is here on the web https://www.gotquestions.org/age-of-accountability.html Jawitkien (talk) 16:50, 24 April 2022 (UTC)

Map gradients and ranges
There are two colours used in the map when only one colour should be used. The ranges in the legend are also inconsistent in size. The map should be recoloured using different tones of the same colour and a more consistent range should be used. 2A00:23C8:A6C7:8101:697C:EC9D:8B7F:F297 (talk) 21:25, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

all the links in 'by country' direct to types of stars?
could be vandalism. 2A02:C7F:C37:6900:864E:91B3:BFC3:8E67 (talk) 17:35, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 8 December 2023
The age for full responsibility in Sweden is wrong. It should be changed from 18 to either 21 or 18/21.

The note for Sweden should be changed, from: "Previously the full age was 21, was reduced down to 18 in 2021.[110]" To: "The previous full age of 21 was reduced down to 18 in 2022 for serious offences.[110]" Or: "The previous full age of 21 was reduced down to 18 in 2022 for criminal offences carrying at least a one year minimum prison penalty.[110]"

The entire sentence was somewhat clunky and my change also suggests suggest a slight rewrite.

The current reference 110 supports my requested change.

The reason for changing the year from 2021 to 2022 is that the legal act was only decided in 2021, but enacted in 2022. KatsuKatsa (talk) 17:22, 8 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Spintendo  23:32, 27 December 2023 (UTC)