Europe Debates Lowering Age of Criminal Responsibility for Children

According to the outlet, the initiative is being considered in several countries at once amid a rise in cases in which criminal groups recruit minors. In Sweden, in particular, lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 13 is under discussion.

At present, in a number of countries, including Germany and Spain, a 12-year-old who commits a serious crime does not bear criminal responsibility. At the same time, in Ireland children aged 10–11 can be held liable, while in the Netherlands criminal-law rules apply to children from the age of 12.

Psychologists warn that children and teenagers are more easily manipulated by criminal groups because their self-control develops gradually. Lowering the age of criminal responsibility may therefore fail to produce the expected effect: minors often do not fully understand the consequences of their actions.

In addition, criminal groups may simply begin recruiting even younger children. There is still no consensus in Europe on such a reform.

“In 2010, Denmark lowered the age threshold for criminal responsibility from 15 to 14. Two years later, however, the reform was reversed. Retrospective studies concluded that the reduction had no deterrent effect. On the contrary, once back at liberty, young people committed repeat offenses more often and performed worse at school,” DW writes.

At the same time, Bild reports that mafia structures in Germany are increasingly involving teenagers in contract violence.

According to the outlet, a new phenomenon has appeared in Germany’s criminal underworld—“violence for hire.” Young people agree, for several thousand euros, to carry out an assassination attempt, beat someone up or take responsibility for a murder.

German security forces have recorded such cases in Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Cologne. In Hamburg, a 15-year-old Dutch citizen shot at a Chechen crime boss. Another 15-year-old, an Azerbaijani, opened fire in a barbershop on the island of Sylt. In Schleswig-Holstein, an Albanian teenager confessed to a murder he allegedly did not commit.

According to investigators, teenagers are recruited through messengers, social networks, video games and closed chats. The perpetrators themselves often know almost nothing about the organizers. A similar scheme operates in Sweden, where criminal groups recruit children aged 11 to 15.

Such practices have long existed in Latin American countries, where drug cartels have hired underage killers—the so-called sicarios—since the 1990s, sometimes starting at the age of 10. Now, judging by reports in European media, a similar trend is becoming increasingly visible in Europe as well.