The subject of crime: The problem of establishing age limits of criminal responsibility

Abstract

Purpose: This article presents the authors’ analysis of the problem of determining the subject of a crime as a legal concept, and defining the legal characteristics of a person who has committed a crime by features that are necessary for criminal responsibility (individual, age, and responsibility). Methodology: The present study was based on a dialectic approach to the disclosure of legal phenomena using general scientific and private scientific methods. Considered the Convention on Rights of the Child1989; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights "in 1966; and UN Standard Minimum Rules for Administration of Juvenile Justice. Result: It is noted that the theory of criminal law and criminal legislation of various legal systems, including Russia, associate criminal responsibility with the age of the subject of the crime. Based on the requirements of criminal law, the subject of a crime may not be any imputed person, but only having reached a certain age. Applications: This research can be used for universities and students in law. Novelty/Originality: In this research, the model of establishing age limits of criminal responsibility is presented in a comprehensive and complete manner. Thus, if we talk about the age in which the legislator connects the ability of the person who committed the crime to bear criminal responsibility, this feature of the subject of crime has always required a more complete understanding; not only from the standpoint of criminal law science, but also from those of close interaction with medicine, psychology, pedagogy and other sciences.