The Age Of Criminal Responsibility - 1682 Words

Introduction The purpose of this report is to understand the age of criminal responsibility in both England and Singapore. The report will include a comparative study on both countries, whilst evaluating the impact each criminal system has on the child. The main focus will be upon the key policies and legal frameworks emplace to support the imprisonment and punishment of children and young people. The definition for the age of criminal responsibility is disputed worldwide, however according to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children criminal responsibility is defined as when a child is considered capable of committing a crime and old enough to stand trial and be convicted of a criminal offence (NSPCC, 2015). In†¦show more content†¦This was then lowered to 7 by the fifteenth century, however, re-rose to the age of 8 under orders of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. Finally in 1963 the age was returned to 10. Contrastingly, a ‘juvenile’ in Singapore is defined in legislation as ‘a male or female person who is 7 years of age or above and below the age of 16 years’ (Children and Young Persons Act: section 2), although this criminality age never existed until 1933. Though numerous adjustments to the criminal system were made. Although a Report of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the UN (2008) defines that al l countries are encouraged to raise their minimum age of criminal responsibility to12 years of age, as this is seen as the absolute minimum age. Countries who currently have the recommended criminal age are urged to continue to increase it to a higher age level. Effects on child It is understood that facing the justice system at such a young age in both England and Singapore can have a long term impact on the child. In England it is recorded that approximately from 2013/14 there were 33,902 young people under the age of 17, sentenced in England and Wales (Youth Justice Board / Ministry of Justice Statistics bulletin, 2015). In Singapore this figure is considerably lower, it is understood that in 2014 there were 3,094 juveniles arrested, however the youth arrests