Criminal Responsibility
A peculiarity across the world is that the law provides an age, 10, 12, etc. below which a child is not criminally responsible and above which he is. There is some small laxity allowed in Britain about how a child at this age is treated in court. But it cannot be doubted that the understanding of a child, about anything, increases with age. Therefore a semi-hard line does not exist.
The problem with ‘responsibility’ is that it is so often associated with the concept of ‘evil’. As if some malevolent spirit is at large waiting to occupy a person’s mind, or that material man is born ‘in sin’ and tainted evermore.
Ultimately, it is the kind of social philosophy and society we espouse, that must advise us.
Hard authoritarian or bigoted rules denote one form of society. Anarchistic society gives rise to the motive of revenge as the basis for any law. Altruist democracy is logically opposed to those two forms of society.
It is however, evident that all and any form of genuine society will have an ethic and law that opposes actions which undermine society and its population.
Altruism no doubt holds people responsible according to their development and age. Although there is a possibility that some people lack a particular gene – an empathy gene – if such exists and can be found.
The victims of crime are the person who is assaulted, his family, and also the perpetrator and his family.
Criminal Responsibility
Re: Criminal Responsibility
Your discussion of responsibility is very close to me. I also thought about this earlier, and also believe that ‘responsibility’ is associated with the concept of ‘evil’