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,...