Age of criminal responsibility

The age of criminal responsibility is the age below which a child is deemed incapable of having committed a criminal offence. In legal terms, it is referred to as a defence/defense of infancy, which is a form of defense known as an excuse so that defendants falling within the definition of an "infant" are excluded from criminal liability for their actions, if at the relevant time, they had not reached an age of criminal responsibility. After reaching the initial age, there may be levels of responsibility dictated by age and the type of offense committed. Under the English common law the defense of infancy was expressed as a set of presumptions in a doctrine known as doli incapax. A child under the age of seven was presumed incapable of committing a crime. The presumption was conclusive, prohibiting the prosecution from offering evidence that the child had the capacity to appreciate the nature and wrongfulness of what they had done. Children aged 7–13 were presumed incapable of committing a crime but the presumption was rebuttable. The prosecution could overcome the presumption by proving that the child understood what they were doing and that it was wrong. In fact, capacity was a necessary element of the state's case (thus, the rule of sevens doctrine arose). If the state failed to offer sufficient evidence of capacity, the infant was entitled to have the charges dismissed at the close of the state's evidence. Doli incapax was abolished in England and Wales in 1998 for children over the age of 10, but persists in other common law jurisdictions. The terminology regarding such a defense varies by jurisdiction and sphere. "Defense of infancy" is a mainly US term. The "age of criminal responsibility" is used by most European countries, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth of Nations countries. Other instances of usage have included the terms age of accountability, age of responsibility, and age of liability, The term minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) is a term commonly used in the literature.

High field brain proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and volumetry in children with chronic, compensated liver disease-A pilot study

Lijing Xin, Cristina Ramona Cudalbu, Bénédicte Marie Maréchal, Sarah Lachat

Background: There is increasing evidence that children or young adults having acquired liver disease in childhood display neurocognitive impairment which may become more apparent as they grow older. The molecular, cellular and morphological underpinnings o ...

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE2023

The NAD(+)/Sirtuin Pathway Modulates Longevity through Activation of Mitochondrial UPR and FOXO Signaling

Johan Auwerx, Kristina Schoonjans, Carlos Canto Alvarez, Laurent Mouchiroud, Richardus Houtkooper, Dongryeol Ryu, Elena Katsyuba, Norman Lionel Moullan, Adrienne Joëlle Laurence Mottis

NAD(+) is an important cofactor regulating metabolic homeostasis and a rate-limiting substrate for sirtuin deacylases. We show that NAD(+) levels are reduced in aged mice and Caenorhabditis elegans and that decreasing NAD(+) levels results in a further red ...

Cell Press2013