Age of criminal injustice
Introduction:
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the argument that the age of criminal responsibility is too low in Australia. Criminal responsibility describes the achievement of an age at which a man is trusted not to overlook the consequences of his actions so far as to realize others can be harmed and therefore must take responsibility for those actions[1]. In Australia, the age of criminal responsibility is the age limit below which a child is perceived to be incapable of committing a crime consciously. The defense is infancy. There is a uniform age of criminal responsibility across all states of Australia. The age limit is 10 years.
Evaluation of the argument that the age of criminal responsibility is too low in Australia:
UN Recommendations are significant in the context of criminal responsibility. In 2007, the Committee on the Rights of the Child stated that, the age of criminal responsibility, depending on the state, should not lie under the age of 12[2]. A lower age limit is considered to be internationally unacceptable, and the States should be encouraged in addition, to set an age limit that is higher than 12 years. The need to establish a minimum age of criminal responsibility is due to the fact that man is not a criminal from birth, and reaches an age when he or she is able to realize the social essence of their actions. Formation of representations about the social value of the individual objects takes a long time if certain ideas about the inadmissibility of causing harm to health and property are absent in a young age (5-6 years). As a whole it is impossible to allocate significant time difference in the intellectual and social development of different people; it is possible to set a maximum age at which a person is considered able to be aware of the social importance of all objects protected by criminal law.
[1]Jacobsen, G. (2015). “Age of criminal consent: 16 or 8.” Australia: Sydney Morning Herald.
[2]Booth, A. (2015). “The age of criminal responsibility must rise, say experts after 11-year-old’s murder charge.” Australia: SBS.
(I.C. RS 1604)