Criminal responsibility of the juvenile offenders

Abstract

In Slovak Republic, the minimum age of criminal responsibility is fourteen years of age. The age of criminal responsibility was lowered in 2005, as one of the results of recodification of the Penal Code. The minimum age of criminal responsibility differs widely in foreign countries, as a result of different historical and cultural development, and can range from seven to eighteen years according to the political, social and economic arrangements of each particular state. In this article author describes present legislative regulation of criminal responsibility of the juvenile offenders, mainly the new principle in the criminal procedure, that
the officially appointed expert has to survey the mental capacity of a juvenile offender under fifteen years of age to commit a crime.