NCJ Number
166259
Date Published
1996
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper advocates use of a civil rather than a criminal process with respect to a child who kills, suggests raising England's age of criminal responsibility from the present 10 years of age, and examines punishment, rehabilitation and prevention.
Abstract
One of the themes common to many aspects of Britain's youth justice system is the treatment of children as if they were adults, for example: (1) trials of children alleged to have killed take place in the adult criminal courts; (2) the proposed building and running of secure training centers, children's prisons for 12- to 14-year-olds, and continued use of adult-style indeterminate sentences; and (3) the treatment of children as adults when they are witnesses in criminal cases. A civil rather than a criminal process with respect to a child who kills could, after an appropriate finding, enable a court to decide on the correct next step. Options would include detention or other restriction of liberty where necessitated by the risk factor. Rehabilitation and prevention would replace retribution as the goal of the proceedings. The appropriate age of criminal responsibility may be decided on the basis of capacity to form the necessary intent or to know that what is being done is criminally wrong. Alternatively, as a matter of policy, it may be decided that, irrespective of individual capacity, children below a certain age should not be prosecuted in the criminal courts. Endnotes