Child Soldiers

[Lorrie Anderson]

WAIT for the poll.

Do you accept that there is an age when young people should be not accountable for violence they have committed as soldiers, insurgents, or terrorists?

In terms of the poll, assume they get a complete pass OR are treated no worse than a civilized country (i.e. Canada) treats child criminals.

 

[Andielep]

Close to the subject. What is the minimum age young offenders can have their trial set as an adult?.
Between 16-18 or younger, just wondering.

 

[Jesica]

13 or under is a safe bet.

 

[Justin]

Under the Juvenile Delinquents Act, the maximum age at which a youth could be prosecuted as a juvenile varied from province to province, and between genders in certain cases.

Alberta set the maximum age at 16 for boys, and 18 for girls. The Young Offenders Act, however, legislated a uniform maximum age of 17 across Canada. The Young Offenders Act applied to all youth who committed a crime before their eighteenth birthday.

 

[mJc]

Many reputable psychiatric studies attest that children under 18 years do not have fully developed brains and have diminished abilities to discern right from wrong. This is the basis for the campaign to abolish the death penalty for those under 18.

The same reasoning would apply even more strongly to child soldiers under 18 years.

 

[Starz]

What if they get themselves dead while trying to kill someone else?

Let us say you are attacked by 3 armed youths and you react. Killing 2 and leaving the third clinging to life.

Were you wrong?

for the sake of the argument we shall use your age of under 18 when they got dead.