Young offenders

The law can be defined as the “principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and applicable to its people, whether in the form of legislation or of custom and policies recognised and enforced by offenders. This legal term can be explained as offenders who are less than 18 years of age at the time of committing the crime offence. Young Offenders need to be dealt with in a different and carefully considered manner by the law in comparison to adult offenders. Due to their young age and lack of adulthood experience, it leaves a very high possibility of the young offender having a different level of responsibility, understanding and require a different level of protection and assistance when being dealt with by the law. The law deals with young offenders in various effective ways such as; Doli incapax, Juvenile Justice Centres and the Children’s Court. These all greatly reflect the wide range of moral and ethical standards that will be unpacked throughout the essay. Therefore to a beyond reasonable extent the law reflects the various moral and ethical standards of our society when dealing with young offenders.

Doli Incapax has been proven itself effective in reflecting the moral and ethical standards held by society, in this case that is; recognising that children and young people, the younger they are can be less responsible for their offences due to their relative youth or inexperience depending on the case. This can be evidently represented in a number of cases supported by appropriate legislation. Doli Incapax can be defined as “incapable of wrong” hence cannot be held legally responsible for actions or be guilty for an offence and in terms of young offenders according to the Children’s (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 NSW, children under the age of 10 cannot be charged with an offence. As they are too young to form criminal intent and are not able to full understand the consequences of their actions and punishing a child under 10,