The Age of Culpability: Children and the Nature of Criminal Responsibility

Gideon Yaffe presents a theory of the nature of criminal responsibility according to which child criminals deserve leniency not because of their psychological, behavioural, or neural immaturity but, instead, because they are denied the vote. He argues that full shares of criminal punishment are deserved only by those who have a full share of say over the law. This position has implications for criminal justice policy, with respect to both the interrogation of children suspected of crimes and the enfranchisement of adult felons.