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Age of Criminal Responsibility

NCJ Number
186893
Author(s)
Gregor Urbas
Editor(s)
Adam Graycar Dr.
Date Published
November 2000
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the operation of specific legal rules differentiating the position of children and young people within the general criminal justice system and rules governing the minimum age of criminal responsibility and the imposition of criminal responsibility above that age depending on the young offender’s appreciation of the wrongness of his or her act.
Abstract
One of the most difficult areas of criminal justice policy lies in providing appropriate legal mechanisms to reflect the transition from the age of childhood through to maturity and full responsibility under the criminal law. The formal imposition of criminal responsibility remains a significant element of the Australian Juvenile Justice System. In all Australian jurisdictions the statutory minimum age of criminal responsibility is now 10 years. Between the ages of 10 and 14 years, a further rebuttable presumption (known in common law as doli incapax) operates to deem a child between the ages of 10 and 14 incapable of committing a criminal act. From 14 to either 17 or 18 years, young offenders may be held fully responsible for their criminal acts but are subject to a different range of criminal sanctions than adults committing the same offenses. The report concludes that the legislative uniformity achieved by Australian jurisdictions in relation to the minimum age of criminal responsibility is encouraging.