Where I live people under the age of 10 cannot be charged with a crime no matter how severe the crime may be. Do you agree with this law?

[Anonymous]

[ChrisMaster69]

I’m sure at times GaG is Groundhog Day.

legally responsible

In Scotland it’s 8 and England / Wales it’s 10.

it’s not as clear cut as that, as other legal aspects do kick in to protect the child.

i believe 13 is too high, I did some fairly serious things at 11 and I knew it was wrong and criminal but stuff did it.

the UK had a pretty horrendous murder carried out, this greatly changed how young offenders were viewed. Since then they have been stabbings, rapes etc.

A boy 11 raped his 9 yr old sister, another nearly 12 raped 2 girls.

For under 10 in England / Wales

Children under 10 who break the law are treated differently to adults or youths under 18 who commit a criminal offence.
Children under 10 cannot be charged with committing a criminal offence. However, they can be given a:

Local Child Curfew
Child Safety Order
Children under 10 who break the law regularly can sometimes be taken into care, or their parents could be held responsible.



For Scotland (is under review to change)

Age of criminal responsibility
The age of criminal responsibility in Scotland is 8 years old. This means a child aged 8 or older can be arrested or charged with a crime.

The age of criminal prosecution is 12 years old. This means if a child aged 8 to 11 breaks the law, their case cannot go to a criminal court. Instead their case may go to a Children's Hearing. The hearing will focus on the child's behaviour and circumstances and not the offence. It is no longer possible for a child under 12 to get a criminal conviction.

Children aged 12 to 16 can go to court but only for serious crimes. For most offences they will get an early intervention, such as:

a warning
help from a support organisation
going to a Children's Hearing

The short version for Scotland will be. A child under the age of 12 years cannot commit an offence. This does not mean nothing happens, there are still investigations and children (and parents) can be placed under safety orders etc.

it’s one of those complex areas where you cannot give an 11 yr old carte Blanche to do what they want, however you need to recognise some offences are down to being children.

[DryGermanGuy]

Where I live, people under the age of 14 (aka children) can’t be charged with a crime. Which leads to gypsy gangs (etc.) sending 10-13 year olds on theft sprees and the law landing on them like a ton of bricks once they hit the age of 14. Some of the more famous ones start their jail career with 3 years of juvenile detention. 😵👏😵‍💫

[MsTaniaUncensored]

I don't believe a child should face no punishment but where are you going to send a small child who kills someone; super max? There is a reason that there are laws that prevent marketing to kids and that is kids often have trouble understanding certain aspects of life until a certain age. This is not a simple issue. I believe jail would severely damage even a teenager let alone someone under ten.

[JohnK123]

Facts

[EmmaMary]

This extremely sad and upsetting incident actually created British Legal History.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger

[EmmaMary]

Thank you for the MHGirl.

[Mango-man]

Glad that in my country, kids (<15) are charged by different standards with different sets of punishment for more serious crimes (like going into behaviour-improving institution) or their parents are held responsible (if they don't have ticket in public transport).

[Mango-man]

are still held responsible, only with lowered punishment (behaviour-improving institution).

[TrueConfection]

Absolutely. If a child that young commits a crime then either the child has a disability or the parents need to be charged.

[Flower7]

They should be charged, but the punishment should be less severe than it would be for an adult. And if they stay out of trouble after that, this criminal record should not follow them into adulthood.

[SeekerOfBooty]

I don't agree with this law.
The age of 10 is really low for criminal responsibility, it should be at least 14.

11,12 and 13 year olds are still children in a psychiatric setting.

[jshm2]

You're confused.

A child cannot be tried as an adult.

[changee]

I think they should still be punished but their punishments should not be as harsh as adults

[Anonymous]

Why not punish the parents for not preventing the crime from happening or for not teaching their child right from wrong?

[JohnK123]

Then u should punish them all (the parents and their kid)

[LordOfThePines]

No, I do not. With that logic, a child could massacre his family, rape a classmate and set buildings on fire and be wholly untouchable.

[Wise4myage]

No I don't. Their needs to be some form of punishment.

[slatyb]

Yes, they are children.

[EmmaMary]

@slatyb

Simply out of pure curiosity and hypothetically, would your views change were a child to murder one of your own children?

[JohnK123]

Where the heck do u live

[OddBeMe]

You want to jail kids?

[UsernameXLTX]

I don't see a problem with that law

[BCA6010]

Nope.

[Sterbai99]

3,000,000 texans dislike that law hahaha

[Avicenna]

Yeah

[ладуна]

I don't

[fireforeffect]

No. I don't.