CRM 3312 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Defense Of Infancy, Juvenile Delinquency, Actus Reus

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Criminology
• Course: CRM 3312
• Professor: Kathryn Campbell

Document Summary

Early perspectives: early doctrine held that youth and adults committing crimes, had the same intent, were similarly responsible, received the same punishments, offenders must have violated a law (actus reus) and possess criminal intent (mens rea). In an early doctrine, it was doli incapax. Doli incapax (incapable of being wrong: doli incapax - legal doctrine that recognized a lack of maturity (aged 7-14) and immunity from prosecution. Children in adult institutions: mid-late 19th century, youth were housed with adults in deplorable conditions, brown conditions (1849) examined prisons conditions and criticized this practice. We are seeing social reform - recognizing that people had rights that weren"t being acknowledged - towards the end of the 19th century. Influenced the development of reformatories in quebec and ontario: from the onset they resembled prisons, with scant attention to education and training. Increases in immigration to the cities resulted in more visibility of youth: reformers/child savers considered working-class to blame for youth delinquency.