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Juvenile Delinquency

Definition

Unlawful conduct committed by a person below the age at which the ordinary adult criminal law applies to them; a legal classification defined by statute, not a medical or psychological diagnosis.

Related terms

Age of Criminal Responsibility
The minimum age below which a person is treated by law as incapable of forming criminal intent, so no act they commit...
Child in Conflict with Law
The current statutory term, used in India's Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, for a person under 18 who...
Doli Incapax
Common-law rebuttable presumption that children aged 10-13 are incapable of criminal intent unless the prosecution proves they knew the act was seriously...
Juvenile
A person who has not yet reached the upper age set by a jurisdiction's youth justice law, most commonly 18, and who...
Status Offence
An act that is only unlawful because the person committing it is a minor, such as truancy or running away from home,...
Minor
A person below the age of legal majority in a given jurisdiction, most commonly 18; the broader civil-law counterpart to the youth-justice...

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