CRJS 2003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Defense Of Infancy, Juvenile Delinquency, Twelve Tables
29 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Principle of limited accountability or diminished criminal responsibility. Evidence of principle of limited accountability can be found in. Roman law: twelve tables: prepubescent thief: table two, law five. During the time of early english kings no thief shall be spared, who has stolen goods worth more than twelve pence, and who is over twelve years old. In the 1600"s, english settled on age 7 as the minimum responsibility and followed principle of doli incapax . Good and evil test: a child could be found guilty only if the state could establish that the hcidl was able to distinguish between the concepts of good and evil. If a reasonable doubt were raised concerning the ability to perceive the difference, the child could not be punished. Main test of criminal responsibility: doli incapax : a latin term for the notion that young children (under age seven) are not capable of evil intent (mens rea the guilty mind)
