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Biography:
Enys is a consultant adolescent forensic psychiatrist who has been working with children in contact with the criminal justice system for over 20 years. He has an long-term interest in the law internationally, stemming from an LLM and has been working on New Zealand’s “Raise the Age” campaign along with Amnesty International.
Almost all countries set an age below which children cannot be legally prosecuted. The setting of this age is affected by the level of development of the country, their history of occupation often through military invasion or trading patterns, their cultural and religious denominations, the impact of high-profile cases and broader societal valuing of punishment versus rehabilitation, and the impact of international instruments such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
One area of influence that has not gained significant traction until the last 20-30 years is the science of brain development. Politicians and judges are beginning to focus on clinical research into the maturing brain in order to better understand its capacities from a criminal law perspective.
Clinicians have a public health responsibility and part of this extends to how we can help inform politicians, judges and law-makers in relation to the current scientific understanding of developmental immaturity. Children who commit crimes represent some of the most impoverished, abused and neglected children in society and we have a moral imperative to clearly convey their abilities and areas of challenge – and at a time when many other countries internationally are reviewing their penal codes, we should consider the plight of the most vulnerable members of our communities.
This presentation focusses on the variations in the minimum age of criminal responsibility internationally and then discusses recent changes in Australia, Scotland and South Africa, and the impact of the UNCRC general comments of 2019 and 2007.