Criminal irresponsibility of children: Unpunished crime and possible solutions

Children up to 14 years of age are criminally irresponsible, which in fact means that certain crimes go unpunished, while the injured party becomes morally, and depending on the specific case, sometimes materially undamaged. This situation is debatable from the aspect of justice, since due to the te...

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Main Author: Živković Natalija M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institute of Comparative Law, Belgrade 2020-01-01
Series:Strani pravni život
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0039-2138/2020/0039-21382003151Q.pdf
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author Živković Natalija M.
author_facet Živković Natalija M.
author_sort Živković Natalija M.
collection DOAJ
description Children up to 14 years of age are criminally irresponsible, which in fact means that certain crimes go unpunished, while the injured party becomes morally, and depending on the specific case, sometimes materially undamaged. This situation is debatable from the aspect of justice, since due to the tendency of humanity towards children, the interests of the injured party are neglected, as well as the wider social community, so that every crime is "punished". This paper presents current legal solutions in the world regarding the criminal responsibility of children, and examines the reasons for the inability of children to be held criminally liable. The measures of social protection that are taken against children who were not 14 years old at the time of committing the crime and the criminal sanctions that are taken against minors are compared. The position of the injured party in the mentioned situations was also critically indicated. The possibility of criminal liability of parents for the actions of their child was examined. At the end of the paper, in the concluding remarks, suggestions were given to the legislator for solving the problem. Consideration should be given to lowering the limit of criminal responsibility for certain serious crimes, i.e. introducing a rebuttable presumption of non-responsibility / responsibility of children aged 12-14 and in a specific case determine if the child is mature.
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spelling doaj.art-ff3dbc68c44f4ec5930cdae8b7ea11022022-12-21T23:23:56ZengInstitute of Comparative Law, BelgradeStrani pravni život0039-21382620-11272020-01-01202031511640039-21382003151QCriminal irresponsibility of children: Unpunished crime and possible solutionsŽivković Natalija M.0Univerzitet u Beogradu, Pravni fakultet, SerbiaChildren up to 14 years of age are criminally irresponsible, which in fact means that certain crimes go unpunished, while the injured party becomes morally, and depending on the specific case, sometimes materially undamaged. This situation is debatable from the aspect of justice, since due to the tendency of humanity towards children, the interests of the injured party are neglected, as well as the wider social community, so that every crime is "punished". This paper presents current legal solutions in the world regarding the criminal responsibility of children, and examines the reasons for the inability of children to be held criminally liable. The measures of social protection that are taken against children who were not 14 years old at the time of committing the crime and the criminal sanctions that are taken against minors are compared. The position of the injured party in the mentioned situations was also critically indicated. The possibility of criminal liability of parents for the actions of their child was examined. At the end of the paper, in the concluding remarks, suggestions were given to the legislator for solving the problem. Consideration should be given to lowering the limit of criminal responsibility for certain serious crimes, i.e. introducing a rebuttable presumption of non-responsibility / responsibility of children aged 12-14 and in a specific case determine if the child is mature.https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0039-2138/2020/0039-21382003151Q.pdfchildrencriminal irresponsibilityparentsinjured parties
spellingShingle Živković Natalija M.
Criminal irresponsibility of children: Unpunished crime and possible solutions
Strani pravni život
children
criminal irresponsibility
parents
injured parties
title Criminal irresponsibility of children: Unpunished crime and possible solutions
title_full Criminal irresponsibility of children: Unpunished crime and possible solutions
title_fullStr Criminal irresponsibility of children: Unpunished crime and possible solutions
title_full_unstemmed Criminal irresponsibility of children: Unpunished crime and possible solutions
title_short Criminal irresponsibility of children: Unpunished crime and possible solutions
title_sort criminal irresponsibility of children unpunished crime and possible solutions
topic children
criminal irresponsibility
parents
injured parties
url https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0039-2138/2020/0039-21382003151Q.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT zivkovicnatalijam criminalirresponsibilityofchildrenunpunishedcrimeandpossiblesolutions