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| courtesy: detroit.cbslocal.com |
The issue is whether or not a 13-year-old child is criminally responsible?
Criminal responsibility
means liability to punishment as for an offence[1].
Therefore, a person is criminally responsible when he is liable to be punished
for an offence.
Generally in criminal law, anyone who is charged
with an offence is presumed innocent until the contrary is proved[2].
The burden of
proving that a person is guilty of an offence is on the prosecution, who has
the burden of proving the legal elements of any offence, which are the mens rea
(intention) and actus reus (act). The prosecution also has the burden to
prove that the defendant committed the offence beyond all reasonable doubt.
What is an offence?
An offence is defined under the Criminal Code Act[3] as
an act or omission which renders the person doing the act or making the
omission liable to punishment under this code[4],
or under any act or law.
Simply put, any act or omission defined under any
act of the National Assembly or the States Houses of Assembly in Nigeria as
constituting an unlawful act or omission is an offence.
Under the Black’s Law Dictionary[5],
an offense was defined as a violation of the law; a crime, often a minor one. However,
crime was defined as an act that the law makes punishable; the breach of a
legal duty treated as the subject matter of a criminal proceeding. This definition
of crime corresponds with the definition of an offence under the Nigerian Criminal
Code Act.
Thus, anyone who breaches the legal duty placed on
them as defined under the code, any act or law, shall be liable to prosecution
for such breach.
The legal elements of Actus Reus and Mens Rea are
defined as follows:
The mens rea is a Latin word which means
guilty mind. The state of mind that the prosecution, to secure a conviction,
must prove that a defendant (accused person) had when committing the crime; while
actus reus is a Latin word which means guilty act. The wrongful deed that
comprises the physical components of a crime and that generally coupled with
mens rea to establish criminal liability; a forbidden act[6]
Nigerian Criminal Laws
Section 30 of the Criminal Code (operating in the
Southern parts of Nigeria) provides:
A person under the age of seven years is
not criminally responsible for any act or omission.
A
person under the age of twelve years is not criminally responsible for an act
or omission, unless it is proved that at the time of doing the act or making
the omission he had capacity to know that he ought not to do the act or make
the omission.
A
male person under the age of twelve years is presumed to be incapable of having
carnal knowledge.
Similarly, section 50 of The Penal Code (Operating
in the Northern parts of Nigeria) provides:
No act is an offence which is done-
By a child under seven years of age; or
By a child above seven years of age but
under twelve years of age who has not attained sufficient maturity of
understanding to judge the nature and consequence of such act.
Section 30 simply means that once a child is above
the age of 12 that child is criminally responsible whether or not he had the
capacity to know that at the time of doing the act or making the omission he
ought not to do the act or make the omission.
[1]
Section 1 of the Criminal Code Act , Laws of the Federation, 2004
[2]
Section 36(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
[3]
Section 2 of the Criminal Code Act, Laws of the Federation, 2004
[4]
The Criminal Code
[5] The
Third Pocket Edition
[6]
Definition according to Black’s Law Dictionary; Third Pocket Edition
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