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Children Should Publish The Names Of Children Who Commit Serious Crimes

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1.That we should publish the names of children who commit serious crimes

There are two main things to consider in this debate. Firstly, whether children are responsible for their crimes and should therefore be held to a similar standard as adults. Secondly what the impact of publishing their names will be, on both the children and society.

Some important cases involving children who commit serious crimes

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edlington_attacks
• http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20085794,00.html

Culpability of Children
In Australian criminal law any children under the age of 10 are considered to be incapable of committing a crime. This means that NO child under ten can ever be convicted of a crime. Between the ages of 10 and 14 we presume that children do not understand enough to have been responsible for the crime, but this can be proven otherwise in a court of law. This is important, because it means that any child who is convicted of a serious crime has been found by a court of law to be mentally capable of committing the crime. On the Affirmative it is important to establish that these children knew that what they were doing was wrong, and therefore should be held to the same standard as adults when they commit these crimes.

On the Negative it is important to question whether, even if children are culpable to some degree, is it the same degree as adults. Children obviously have much

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