Hungary considers reducing criminal age to 12

A new penalty code has been proposed in Hungary to reduce the criminal age for serious, life-threatening crimes to 12 years, while punishment for young adults up to the age of 21 would be the same as for those under 18, reports daily Népszabadság. Under current law, children under 14 cannot be punished and no "young adults" age category exists. Experts do not support the idea, saying it would not solve the problem of child criminality in Hungary.

This does not mean that anyone would want to "put children into jail or excuse the criminal activity of any 20-year-old youngsters without any sanctions," Justice and Law Enforcement Ministry State Secretary Ferenc Kondorosi told the paper. "Today, legislations for juvenile delinquents are simply an adaptation of those applicable to adults and do not take into account typical stages in the development of children. This is why it makes sense to reduce criminal age and extending legislation for juveniles to young adults at the same time."

While Hungarian penalty code does not have a "young adults" category, almost all European countries have already issued special laws for young adults between 18 and 21 (in some countries, 18 and 23 or 18 and 25) years of age. Calls for a reduction in the criminal age have been fuelled by the case of a 14-year-old boy who raped an 18-year-old woman before setting her alight in the summer of 2006.

In Hungary, the number of underage criminals was 3,800 between 1996 and 2005. This figure has barely changed since. However, only 2.5 children (aged under 14) in every thousand committed crimes compared to 2.5% of 14- to 18-year-olds. In both categories, shoplifting and theft were the most common crimes. Young children commit an average of between one and four murders a year while youths claimed the lives of 12 to 20. Two-thirds of "juvenile criminal activity" is committed by children aged between 12 and 14, which is a reason for reducing criminal age to 12.

Kondorosi did not rule out the idea that children could be convicted of serious criminal offences, but said imprisonment of under 14's was "out of the question." Custodial sanctions for juveniles under 16 years of age could be used only in special cases.

According to the new Hungarian laws being discussed, those young adults who did not commit a serious crime, are not guilty of a second offence and are not involved in a criminal organization, can be convicted of criminal offences according to the legislations for juvenile delinquents. Criminal prosecution will be linked with age and their ability to take responsibility for their deeds.

"Reducing criminal age would cause even more problems," said sociologist Mária Herczog, in response to the news. Herczog, who is an associate of the National Criminology Institute (Országos Kriminológiai Intézet), believes that the problems of child criminals cannot be solved by punishment. Instead, the causes of their behavior must be identified and treated. She believes that the child protection system used in Hungary today is not suitable for treating deviant children.

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