Age

Abstract This chapter focuses on the issue of age of criminal responsibility. Under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, s 50, it ‘shall be conclusively presumed that no child under the age of ten years can be guilty of an offence’. At common law, there was a rebuttable presumption that a person aged under 14 was incapable of committing a crime. This presumption, often termed doli incapax, required the prosecution to establish not only that the accused had committed the offence but also that they knew what they had done was seriously wrong rather than merely naughty. The presumption of doli incapax was abolished by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, s 34 for all offences committed on or after 30 November 1998. Ultimately, any dispute in relation to the age of a defendant should be raised at the first hearing, whether in the adult or youth court.