Criminal irresponsibility of children: Unpunished crime and possible solutions

• Main Author: Živković Natalija M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Comparative Law, Belgrade 2020-01-01
• Series: Strani pravni život
• Subjects: children; criminal irresponsibility; parents; injured parties
• Online Access: https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0039-2138/2020/0039-21382003151Q.pdf
• ISSN: 0039-2138; 2620-1127

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.