Should children be legally responsible for their actions?

[lastwish]

63 percent of Canadians certainly think so according to the Globe and Mail poll.

[Gigabitch]

Depends on what you mean by "child". An eight year old? probably not. A fifteen year old? Probably so.

[Petit Papillon]

I think the same - but I'm not Canadian
Sorry but nowadays some children can be really ****ed up and no , showing them love and leaving them in peace will not teach them to not make a booboo to others.

[girl68]

Define the age of child?

Note that there will ALWAYS be exceptions. My 29 year old brother has the mental capacity of an 9 year old (he is mentally hadicapped). Should HE be responsible for his actions? No- he simply cannot know what is right and wrong beyond basic moral guidelines such as hitting/ stealing.

[Junket]

I can already tell this is gonna get nasty.

[lastwish]

Define the age of child?

Minimum age to be charged is 12 years old although cannot be charged with an adult sentence. A 14 year old can be charged with an adult sentence in Canada.

[QueenofCorona]

I think its a black and white issue, each case needs to be handled according to the child/crime committed.

[Gigabitch]

My twelve year old daughter is old enough to know right from wrong, but her judgment on some things is pretty bad anyway. I know she wouldn't rob a bank, but I'm not sure she wouldn't ride in the getaway car just because her friends robbed a bank.

[girl68]

Minimum age to be charged is 12 years old although cannot be charged with an adult sentence. A 14 year old can be charged with an adult sentence in Canada.

Sounds about right IMO (as a Canadian.) But I don't think they should be in jail or stupid things like that they need to be in programs designed to help them not be such a deliquent. I'm about rehab, not lock up.

[Gigabitch]

Sounds about right IMO (as a Canadian.) But I don't think they should be in jail or stupid things like that they need to be in programs designed to help them not be such a deliquent. I'm about rehab, not lock up.

It depends, for me. There was a thirteen year old kid who raped and killed his next door neighbor here in NM a few years ago. Stabbed her 32 times with a screwdriver. I don't want that kid in rehab. I want him in jail.

[QueenofCorona]

When I was in 10th grade the kid who sat in front of me in English class, plus a 9th grader shot and killed a taxi driver in South Dakota, the man literally had less than $40 in his coat pocket. This was in 1996 and both were tried as adults and sentenced to life in prison.

[url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=sd&vol=1998_052&invol=1]FindLaw | Cases and Codes[/url]

[girl68]

It depends, for me. There was a thirteen year old kid who raped and killed his next door neighbor here in NM a few years ago. Stabbed her 32 times with a screwdriver. I don't want that kid in rehab. I want him in jail.

I disagree. Despite this being holy shit, wow type of case. Jail does NO good, not one ounce. In almost every criminal case these criminals get out (one day) when they do if they ain't rehabilitated they're even worse when they went in. So I still argue for punishment, yes, but rehab (of course rehab can include being locked up in some sort of facility being monitored and all that it's still better than jail.

[vashti]

A child's brain is not fully developed until late teens/early 20s, particularly the portion responsible for impulse control. That being the case, I do not favor children being tried as adults.

Unfortunately, what a lot of criminals really need is NOT jail, but mental health facilities. I don't know about what goes on in other states, but in California, long-term psych hospitals were closed down by Ronald Reagan in the 80s.

[IndiReloaded]

I think that reaching 'age of majority' should mean more than being able to drink and drive. Hopefully not in that order. There should be meaningful privileges associated with achieving majority along with responsibility. There should be an exam, some amount of community service and a demonstrated maturity evidenced by a measurable contribution (military service would count). Much like becoming a Roman citizen.

Whatever your age, if you have achieved the privileges of majority, then any crimes you commit are treated as such. Otherwise, the parents should be held responsible. A LOT of problems with today's youth would magically disappear if the parents had to actually answer for their kid's behaviour.

[VincenzoG91]

The idea of somebody magically becoming responsible on the day of his or her 18th birthday is absurd. I'm comfortable with minors getting lighter treatment and more guidance for some crimes, but serious felonies indicating an especially dangerous individual merit more serious punishment. I'm really not interested in rehabilitation for that kid with the screwdriver. One stab could represent a serious mistake by an immature person. 32 stabs, and we're talking about an amoral monster who can never be trusted again. Years ago, I read that it cost $20,000 a year on average to house one inmate an American prison. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars should we waste on that monster? That money could be used to help innocent people who need food, shelter and clothing.