Open AccessThe Age of Criminal Responsibility: Controversial Issues of Legislation and Practice
Author(s) -
К. З. Трапаидзе
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
lex russica/lex russica (russkij zakon)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2686-7869
pISSN - 1729-5920
DOI - 10.17803/1729-5920.2022.183.2.046-055
Subject(s) - legislation , criminal code , criminal responsibility , law , criminal law , criminal procedure , criminal liability , political science , subject (documents) , theory of criminal justice , russian federation , criminology , liability , psychology , sociology , criminal justice , regional science , library science , computer science
One of the most important areas of criminal policy is to increase the effectiveness of the norms of criminal law concerning the responsibility of minors. The paper aims to study criminal law norms that differentiate responsibility depending on the age of the person who committed a crime and the practice of its application. A study carried out using historical and comparative methods showed that the number of crimes, the responsibility for which starts at the age of 14 under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is constantly growing. The number increased from 20 crimes in 1997 to 33 crimes in 2021. The results obtained in the course of the study confirm that the practice of establishing criminal liability for committing a crime from the age of 14 or reducing the already established age from 16 to 14 years based on the mere danger of such a crime cannot be considered justified. Another conclusion drawn from the study is that the Russian law-maker should have taken advantage of the recommendation of the Model Criminal Code for the CIS member states and enshrined the rule that in cases provided for by law (for example, for crimes commited by public officials or military crimes), only a person who has reached an age older than 16 years can be subject to criminal responsibility. Refusal to include in Art. 20 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of the third age (in addition to 16 and 14) of criminal liability has led to the fact that the courts, in particular, do not apply the provisions on «age-related insanity» to persons who have reached 18 years of age at the time of the crime, but who have a mental retardation, which under certain conditions can be considered as a manifestation of age discrimination.