Do we need universal minimum age of criminal responsibility?

Abstract

Although considerable efforts have been made in international law in order to set the general minimum age of criminal responsibility, no consensus has been reached on this issue. Having in mind the nature of international law it seems that such efforts are futile. Regardless of the (in)ability of international law to provide an answer to the question regarding minimum age of criminal responsibility, and the need to set general minimum age at the international level applicable in different societies, international normative acts bind national jurisdictions on regional and even universal level. With the aim of examining international standards dealing with the minimum age in national criminal legislation, and having in mind the obligation of states to harmonize their laws with international legal instruments, the author made an overview of the most relevant among these international standards in order of their creation. The tendency of harmonizing the minimum age of criminal responsibility, while formally hidden behind the rule of law argument in the states that belong to different cultures, ridicules specific character of particular culture on which every moral and legal order rests. As an illustration of this position, the author researched a number of (very different) comparative-law approaches. The comparative-law analysis clearly reveals colonial and non-colonial approach to this issue. Also, comparison of national legislation indicates wider dependents of child's understanding of criminal law on particular culture. The analysis of international regulatory standards and comparative-law approaches in a number of countries raises the issue of justification of harmonization with predominant standards of the international community in situations when national-law regulation does not correspond to the needs of a particular society.