Index – Belgium – The little girl who wrote the death list and cheered on the crime was not punished, only a measure could be applied

As reported by Index, on the morning of April 29, a girl stabbed her fellow sixth-grade student in the heart and caused a serious, life-threatening injury at the Szent István Király Primary School in Bőny. According to Telex information, the fight broke out between two little girls who were passing through Rétalap in the neighboring county of Győr-Moson-Sopron.

Mirella has already recovered

According to what was said at the police press conference on Monday evening, the girl, who is over 12 years old, took a knife with a blade of about twenty centimeters from home, which she hid in her bench. After the bell after the first lesson, when most of the class left the classroom, he stuck the knife into the back of the offended girl sitting in front of him.

The shocked mother of the little girl, Mirella, who was stabbed in the heart from behind, told AC News that her child was a quiet, gentle girl who never had a conflict with her classmates.

Blikk was able to speak with the parents of the stabbed little girl, Mirella, at the hospital in Győr. The mother said that the stab was so strong that the blade reached the girl’s lung, from which a lot of blood had to be drained. After the operation, the child was kept under anesthesia for a while in the intensive care unit, but luckily he regained consciousness in the early afternoon.

But can he be held responsible, and if so, what criminal consequences can Mirella’s abuser expect?

Action instead of punishment

Regarding the case, criminal lawyer Mihály Tóth told Klubrádio: the criminal law introduced more than ten years ago that exceptionally, for some very serious crimes, even twelve-year-old children can be punished. The age of criminal liability was previously fourteen years in all cases. However, they believed – the law professor continued – that there are serious, violent crimes for which even younger offenders can be judged to be capable of discernment, and that they are also responsible for their actions.

If the girl has reached the age of twelfth, then criminal proceedings will be initiated against her, and in this process they will very carefully examine whether she had the ability to discern, whether she was able to assess the consequences of her actions, which qualifies her to be the defendant in a criminal case

– said the specialist. If you are found to have the capacity to judge, you will be held accountable in a court of law.

At the same time, Mihály Tóth also emphasized that in the court proceedings, no punishment can be applied against the little girl, only measures, which typically take the form of education in a correctional institution. The duration of correctional education can be from one to four years.

Where should the limit of culpability be drawn?

For a long time, criminologists have been debating where the line of culpability should be drawn. In other words: from what age can someone be held criminally responsible. The Penal Code, which entered into force in 2013, left the minimum age of criminality at 14, but also stated that a child who has reached the age of 12 can be punished for certain, more serious crimes, if he had the insight necessary to recognize the consequences of the crime at the time of committing it. These crimes are:

• homicide,
• manslaughter committed with strong passion,
• physical injury causing death,
• violence against an official,
• violence against a public official,
• violence against an official or supporter of a public official,
• terrorist act,
• robbery
• and looting.

The government justified the tightening as follows:

Violent advocacy is becoming more and more common among children between the ages of twelve and fourteen, which is why it is necessary to amend the age of criminality, hold children who commit flagrantly aggressive crimes against life criminally responsible, and lower the age of criminality to twelve years for some serious crimes. From the behavior of the child who commits such a crime, it can be concluded that, in the absence of adequate help, he will not be able to integrate into society and lead a law-abiding lifestyle in the future, therefore special prevention requires the use of criminal law tools.

The definition of criminality from the age of 12 is not new in our country: from the entry into force of the first penal code until 1961 – that is, for almost eight decades – this was the lower limit of criminal capacity, and in each case the mental and moral development of the offenders had to be examined.

Criminal discretion

More than two years ago, Sándor Palásti, the president of the Budapest District Court – in addition to suspending the ongoing criminal proceedings before him – appealed to the Constitutional Court because, according to his opinion, the Civil Code is contrary to the Basic Law. the provision on the basis of which even children over the age of 12 can be punished for homicide if they have the insight necessary to recognize the consequences. According to the court judge, it should not only be investigated whether they committed the crime while possessing their discretion, but also whether the influence of another person can be demonstrated in their behavior.

However, the Constitutional Court did not share Palásti’s opinion and rejected the judicial initiative. The justification for the decision highlighted:

State intervention resulting in criminal prosecution may take place in cases where the family’s cooperation in ensuring the proper development of the child and the basic conditions necessary for it proves to be insufficient. Thus, in the case of a child who commits a crime, the state intervention and the activation of the system of public authorities serve not only the protection of society, but also the interests of the child.

In connection with the case, the Constitutional Court contacted Márton Lontai, the director-general of the National Expert and Research Center (NSZKK), who, in connection with the examination of the burdened discretion of the twelve- to fourteen-year-old, submitted that criminal discretion is the intellectual and moral development necessary to for someone to recognize the illegality of the act when committing a specific act, and to act in accordance with this recognition.

According to the NSZKK’s point of view, the burdened emotional development of childhood, the resulting desire to adapt, the need for attachment, and the determining role of all these factors on the child’s behavior can also be evaluated with a forensic psychological examination.