The article carried out a comparative analysis of minors’ criminal liability in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Common and distinctive features in the system of minors’ criminal liability in these states are identified. It is noted that in each of these countries, the criminal liability of minors will differ slightly, such as the age at which a person can be held criminally liable or the types of punishments that can be applied to them. This difference can be both minimal and significant. It was determined that in the Netherlands and Portugal, a minor who has not reached the age of criminal liability (twelve years in the Netherlands and sixteen years in Portugal) cannot be held criminally liable under any circumstances. At that time, the relative criminal age in Germany is fourteen years, and in Belgium it is the age of sixteen. The following conclusions were made: the age of criminal liability is absolute in some countries and relative in others; the criminal law applicable to minors contains few criminal sanctions, in all the countries studied, the measures applied to minor offenders are mainly educational and disciplinary; in some countries it is possible to lower or increase the age of criminal liability. Proposals are made taking into account positive foreign experience regarding the improvement of national legislation. Namely, it is proposed to amend Article 22 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine by adding part 3 with the following wording: “Persons who committed criminal offenses between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, if at the time of committing a criminal offense their moral and intellectual development was similar to minors, by court decision may be subject to criminal liability in the manner determined by Chapter XV of this Code”.

Key words: minors’ criminal liability, comparative analysis, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Portuguese Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

References

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