2023-10-09 14:13:00
Can minor children be guilty of criminal offenses?
The criminal age is set at 18 years. This means that below this age, minors do not have the necessary discernment to incur criminal liability (in fact, minority is a reason for non-imputability of a criminal offense), nor to be sentenced to a pain. When a child commits a crime or misdemeanor, we therefore speak of a “minor in conflict with the law” or a minor who has committed an “act qualified as an offense”.
Consequently, the minor will not be judged as an adult by the criminal court, but will fall under the jurisdiction of the youth court. If he declares the facts established, the judge will be able to impose on the young person what are called “custody, preservation and education” measures – and not sanctions. For example, if my child regularly sells drugs in the evening, a youth judge might decide to impose community service on him; or to subject him to a measure of surveillance by social services and to prohibit him from frequenting certain people or places which are linked to the act classified as an offense which was committed. As a parent, I will be summoned to the hearing but the decisions made by the court will not directly concern me.
Under what conditions can I be held criminally liable?
Criminal responsibility is personal: I cannot therefore be considered guilty, as a parent, of the offense committed by my child solely because the act qualifying as an offense has been declared established on his part. On the other hand, certain behaviors (or negligence) on my part which may have contributed to the occurrence of the offense might give rise to my criminal liability.
For example, as a doctor, if I leave within reach of minor children products which I know full well that they suppress discernment, and that they can be used to obtain non-consensual sexual relations, I might be held criminally liable. responsible for the sexual offense allegedly committed.
Another scenario: in terms of narcotics, by making my house available to minors knowing and accepting the fact that they will consume all kinds of products there, I might be accused of having facilitated the use of drugs by others (in this case, the minority of users is even considered an aggravating circumstance).
In these hypotheses, I might be prosecuted in a personal capacity, regardless of the fate reserved for the acts alleged once morest my minor child, and it will not be the youth court but the criminal court which will examine the case.
If the act classified as an offense is declared to have been committed by my child, what will I have to pay and to whom?
What if there is a victim, for example of a sexual assault? The fact that I cannot be held criminally responsible for an act classified as an offense committed by my minor child does not exclude my having to repair the damage that this act would have caused.
Belgian law establishes on the part of parents a presumption of fault in the supervision and education of their minor child when the latter causes damage to others. Thus, unless I can rebut this presumption by demonstrating that I have not committed any fault (on this subject, I refer you to the “Right to know” published on Monday October 2, 2023), I will be considered civilly responsible for the damage caused by the act described as an offence. The youth court will therefore order me jointly with my minor child to compensate the victim, who can turn once morest me to claim the full amount of damages she has obtained.
Who is Marion de Nanteuil, the author of this text?
Marion de Nanteuil is a lawyer at the Brussels Bar. She practices common criminal law, business criminal law, youth law and road traffic law. She is also a scientific collaborator at the Faculty of Law of the University of Liège and at the research center in criminal law and criminal procedure at UCLouvain.
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