How Old Is Twelve Years Old?
This past week has been a flurry of online articles, coordinating with two of my coworkers, and meetings with lawyers in the firm. We three American law students at the office have been working on a big project coming to fruition in the next few days, when we will host a presentation with an open discussion afterward. The topic of the presentation is the age of criminal responsibility, focusing on the United States but also covering China and worldwide stances. This is because currently, the Chinese are debating over the recent amendment to their criminal code, which now allows younger adolescents to be found guilty of two offenses when committed intentionally using particularly cruel means: (1) murder; and (2) infliction of bodily harm resulting in disability or death.
Before 2021, which is when they lowered the hard floor of 14 to 12, there was a slew of cases publicized in which 13-year-olds committed violent murders and suffered few, if any, consequences. One boy, after murdering his mother, returned to school after a mere ten days of detention; another murdered a 10-year-old girl and wrote online to his friend he knew it would turn out fine because he was under 14. Such cases coming to light sparked outrage, and so an amendment was proposed and adopted.
Many here feel that the age should be further lowered, due to young offenders literally getting away with murder. Others are outraged the age was lowered at all, pointing to the United Nations’ recommendation that 14 be the floor of prosecuting juvenile delinquents. Currently, though the full age of criminal responsibility is at 16 (the sentence is still mitigated for 16 and 17-year olds), 14 and 15-year-olds are allowed to be prosecuted for eight different crimes that have been criticized as inconsistent. For example, a 15-year-old could be held criminally accountable for committing robbery, but not theft or indecent assault.
In the United States, some states have age limits for both prosecuting children in juvenile court as well as transferring them to adult criminal court that are shockingly low—if they have a limit at all. Twenty-four states have no age limit for prosecuting children in juvenile courts (others set it from 7 to 13, with the most common age being 10) and eleven states have no minimum age in place for trying children as adults. In fact, every year, dozens of children under 14 are judicially transferred to adult courts.
Though there are sometimes especially harsher punishments for adults who harm children under 14, the recognition that children younger than 14 are especially vulnerable to harm and more worthy of legal protection comes to a standstill once they make a mistake. It would not be correct to let children utterly off the hook who understand what they have done. But it’s not right to prosecute them as adults and impose a sentence that can reach life without parole.
I proclaim this even more fervently having been a foster parent to young children who had been raised in such conditions that they had not yet learned (or had ever had a model for) how to understand consequences or control their emotions, actions. Many foster children are taken from parents who once were foster kids and made bad choices to cope with impossibly difficult situations. I can’t imagine one of the children I took care of making desperate choices in a few years and not only being put through an adult criminal trial but being condemned to live out the rest of their life behind bars.
Onto lighter topics: this past week, Sarah and I went to see a travelling modern ballet troupe perform a very…unique version of Romeo and Juliet. Though there were some beautiful pas de deux between the two main dancers, I lost all hope when they played a contemporary rearrangement of Prokofiev’s incredible, rich, and moving Romeo and Juliet piece featuring most heavily what I believe was a banjo. Thankfully, the next night, Sarah and I went to see an acrobat show that knocked our socks off! I’m not sure I’ll ever understand how the people we watched folded their bodies as they did, how one woman’s neck was strong enough to support another person on her head, or how the five motorcyclists that ended up driving around each other in a small metal globe didn’t die. I kept on quietly blurting, “No!” audibly every time my heart lurched—which was pretty much during the entire show!
I spent some hours at a flea market that just kept on extending farther and farther each time I believed I had found the end—and had a wonderful time bartering for trinkets I am excited to give to my friends and family when I return.
I also visited the Lama Temple that was filled with people praying and burning incense sticks and the Confucius Temple, where students go to pray for good luck during finals season.
Finally, I’ve danced balboa, lindy hop, West Coast swing, and collegiate shag recently at several different events. I feel so lucky to have found something I love doing that others all over the world also love doing! Until the next time.