Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility A Comparative Study of Laws of UK China Australia and India

Abstract

As per the statistics available, there are 10.2 juvenile offenders per 1 lack population in the world. In India the percentage of recorded juvenile crimes are about 0.9 to 1 % of total crimes. Juvenile delinquency is one of the burning issues all over the world. newlineThis study was aimed at understanding the issue relating to criminal capacity of the juveniles, causes behind juvenile delinquency, and the measures that are being taken for the preventing the delinquent behavior of the children s. The influence of the media on the psychosocial development of children is profound. With advent of communication technology in recent times, a child s exposure to media including television, radio, music, video games and the Internet, has increased manifold and due to that today s kids are growing up way too fast. The involvement of the juveniles in serious offences like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and abduction has raised concerns in the nation. After the December 2012 Gang rape in Delhi (or Nirbhaya case, as it was commonly called), many debates and discussions pointed to the softer approach of Juvenile Justice System to serious offences. It has been found that the youngsters can be as brutal as the adults, which forced the people to reanalyze the definition and approach to juvenile delinquents in India. Therefore, it was planned to have a comparative study of laws of united kingdom, china, Australia and India relating to the minimum age of criminal responsibility of juveniles to understand whether the present law on the juvenile delinquency are sufficient to deal with delinquent children. newlineIn this paper the various International Instruments, namely theUnited Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child; 1989, the Indian law, the Beijing Rules ,relating to the guidelines of the establishment of a minimum age for criminal capacity are furnished. The developments regarding the issue of criminal capacity since 1998 in Australia, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong are highlighted. The historical position and the current