There are big differences between European countries in what age is considered criminally responsible. You can test your knowledge here:
In Finland, among other things, the news about violent crimes committed by young people and the worsening of school violence have raised the question of at what age young people should answer for their actions in court. Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (ps.) said at the end of August that the Basic Finns want to study the possibility of lowering the lower limit of the criminal law.
In Finland, the age limit for criminal responsibility is 15 years. It is slightly above the European average.
Individual cases have an impact on the practices of different countries
According to experts interviewed by , the age limits in use in Europe are based on traditions and the legal concept of each country.
– In Finland, it would not be considered fair to put 10-year-olds in prison, but in Britain it may be more acceptable, says the professor of criminal law Sakari Melander.
According to him, individual cases also have an impact on legal concepts prevailing in different countries.
In 1993, two ten-year-old children brutally murdered a 2-year-old toddler near Liverpool, England. The case attracted enormous attention worldwide.
Ten-year-olds were criminally responsible in England even before the murder. Melander estimates that because of this crime, it would still be difficult to find support for raising the age limit in Britain.
The minimum age of criminal liability in Europe varies between 10 and 17 years. You can see the age limits in different countries on the attached map.
The ability to deal with emotional issues develops slowly
In practice, criminal responsibility means that the police can, for example, arrest a young person, and he can be sentenced in court.
Minimum age limits have been set because it is assumed that a certain age brings with it an understanding of the consequences of the act.
– But there is at least no developmental psychological consideration behind these limits in different European countries. It’s more about an established habit, says the docent of forensic psychology working at the European Criminal Policy Institute Julia Korkman.
However, he thinks it is important that legal systems take into account the fact that children and young people’s ability to deal with emotional issues develops slowly.
– The ability to make rational decisions when, for example, angry, in love or under group pressure lags behind adults. This ability continues to develop even after the age of 18, he points out.
Low age limits do not help reduce crime
According to the researchers, there is no evidence that a low age of criminal responsibility helps to reduce crimes.
– According to some studies, in Britain, where the age limit is very low, children and young people repeat crimes more easily than in Finland, says Sakari Melander.
Denmark, on the other hand, tried lowering the age limit from 15 to 14 in the early 2010s. This however, did not help reduce what young people did crimes. 14-year-olds even repeat crimes more easily than before. After the experiment, Denmark returned the age limit to 15 years.
Denmark’s example shows at least that decisions about age limit changes should not be made lightly, says the crime commissioner Marja Väätti From the youth group of the Helsinki police.
He does not believe that lowering the age of responsibility would help reduce youth crime in Finland. He would rather focus resources on crime prevention.
– Crimes committed by young people are very rarely planned so that they think about the possible consequences and decide if it’s worth it, says Väätti.
Criminal sanctions for young people in Finland “typical in European terms”
Sakari Melander and Julia Korkman emphasize that the age limit in itself says very little about what kind of punishments a young person has for a crime in any country. Even if the police do not investigate crimes committed by a child or young person, other authorities can intervene.
For example, in Portugal, child protection can order a 12-year-old to a closed institution.
Likewise, the enforcement of prison sentences can vary. In Finland, three young people killed a 16-year-old boy in Helsinki’s Koskela in December 2020. Those convicted of murder can be released on parole after serving a third of their sentences. The young people were 16 years old at the time of the crime, i.e. criminally responsible. However, being a minor and being a first-timer make it possible to get on parole faster than usual.
According to Sakari Melander, there are similar reductions in sentences elsewhere. He considers Finland to be a typical European country based on both the age limit and the criminal sanctions for young people.
– In Finland, it is thought that for children and young people, imprisonment should only be used as a very last resort in the most serious cases. Quite a few [maat] share exactly this idea, says Melander.
– Even if the age limit of criminal responsibility is lower in some countries, they usually try to deal with crimes in other ways than by putting the child in prison.