Boy, 8, charged with manslaughter in US (1 Viewer)

[katie_tully]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=55820

Hrm. Kid was jealous, kicked the baby to death. I wonder if they will convict him? They convicted the 10 year olds a few years back in Britain, so will be interesting.

 

[julius]

There's a thing called doli incapax which states that a kid under 10 yrs isn't criminally responsible (somebody correct me if I'm wrong). Due to this, I don't think he will be convicted. However, I do think they'll put him in juvenile detention or something similar.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

CRIMES ACT 1914 - Section 4M: Children under 10

A child under 10 years old cannot be liable for an offence against a law of the Commonwealth.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

oops

how careless of me

 

[MoonlightSonata]

I'm sure its in the orange crim book somwhere. Asqy cant be bothered to go look.

Eh.. since I'm about to launch into Crim 2 a bit of research is probably good for me

It's covered by s 5, Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW). Children under 10 are incapable of committing criminal offences. Also until a child reaches 14, it is presumed they are incapable of wrongdoing (doli incapax) but this can be rebutted: Whitty (1993) 66 A Crim R 462.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Sounds about right...but dont worry it wont be in the exam. The problem question is always on the stages of murder/MS.

Sounds good... and gory

I'm sure the Crim teachers will use their wonderful imagination and come up with some diabolical fact scenario as usual

 

[katie_tully]

Square law students.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Who do you have for crim?

Alex Steel is the king of Flow diagrams that make law look much easier than it should be.

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Last years exam was something about a farmhouse shooting...shotguns and all.

haha

yeh I have Steel

 

[Serius]

sounds like his parents must have been pretty fucked up in the first place. a child who had shown aggression before [ i doubt this was a one of incidence] and i will laugh if they said they didnt know their osn felt that way about his half-sister, an 8yrold cant hide his feelings, if a parent cant see these things they are ignorant. what about leaving the child [7 months old, fucking bad parents] alone? and they knew they 8yr old had been angry at her for crying all night. i think the parents should be charged with manslaughter [ or is it caled infanticide or somecrap i cant remember] for leaving the children alone and with the capability to harm. they must have shown the kid some nasty movies for him to feel expressing rage is appropriate. disgusting parenting; only in America

 

[Meldrum]

America doesn't have dolli incapax.

They also haven't signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child so, depending on the state, the kid could be looking at the death penalty.