Experts reject lowering age of criminal responsibility

After two 13-year-olds allegedly beat and robbed a 72-year-old man in Dornbirn, debate has revived over lowering the age of criminal responsibility. Vorarlberg’s child and youth advocate Christian Netzer and sociologist Simon Burtscher-Mathis oppose the move, ORF reports, and say parents must be more closely involved.

Netzer said he favours mandatory counselling for children who offend and their parents. While lowering the age to 12 might be justified in individual cases, he warned against bringing large numbers of children into the criminal justice system. Even a playground dispute could potentially amount to robbery, he said, if one child threatened another to take their packed lunch.

Authorities have no legal powers to act against children below the age of criminal responsibility, although child and youth welfare services are involved. Netzer said cooperation with families is voluntary and should be compulsory when a child commits an offence. He also called for authorities to examine what may be contributing to the behaviour, including problems at home, trauma or psychiatric illness.

Parents are not criminally liable for their children’s offences, Netzer said, but custody also carries duties, including supervision and upbringing. He added that police reports on the two 13-year-olds, who have been accused of more than 300 offences this year, are already being sent to the prosecutor’s office.

Burtscher-Mathis said there was no empirical evidence that lowering the age of criminal responsibility had a positive effect in the criminal justice system. He said persistent offending could be linked to different forms of neglect in early childhood, which may lead to severe attachment disorders and later criminal behaviour.

He called for early prevention involving police, child and youth welfare services, youth work and other providers. Such efforts can help many children change course, he said, adding that the discussion concerns only a handful of persistent offenders. He also stressed that rehabilitation would remain important when young people become criminally responsible at 14.

Burtscher-Mathis cited a project in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia, where police and youth welfare officials visit the parents of young people who repeatedly offend and work with families to help them get back on track.