• I. Justification of the Principle of Criminal Responsibility

— 1. Is the principle announced in an explicit manner by a legal text ? When necessary, has the jurisprudence helped to complete the legislative dispositions or filled the silence of the law ?

— 2. Is the principle based on classical legal reasoning (imputability/guilt) or is it based more on a criminological concept of “criminal capacity”?

— 3. Are there existing doctrinal or legislative tendencies which, if necessary, aim at giving the responsibility of minors a specific justification ?

— 4. Does a specific concept of “juvenile crime” exist which is independent of the principle of criminal responsibility; and, if so, for what types of acts ?

— 5. Does a tendency exist to exclude minors from benefiting from the juvenile justice system for the sake of treating them as adults for certain crimes that are particularly serious (for example : acts of terrorism, rape…)?

— 6. Do dispositions (civil or criminal) exist which favour the responsibility of parents for the delinquent behaviour of their children who are not of age based on the notion of objective responsibility ?

• II. The Question of Different Categories of Age :

— 1. What is the age of criminal majority ? Has this age been recently modified ? Are there existing tendencies to increase or lower this age ? For what reasons ?

— 2. Is there a minimum level under which the minor can not be punished or receive educational measures for the crime he/she has committed ? If so, does this level consist of a chronological age or can it vary according to the subject ? In this latter case, what is the criterion (legal, psychological…) which determines this level ?

— 3. Do there exist specific categories that benefit from a particular regime ? What measures are possible in the case of an infant committing a crime ?

— 4. Are there specific dispositions that apply to the category “young adults”? If so, up to what age can a subject be considered a part of this special regime ?

• III. Judicial Establishment of Criminal Responsibility of Minors

— 1. Are there special jurisdictions competent to judge minors who commit a crime ? When these jurisdictions exist, to what extent do they use juries or have members of other professions to sit with the professional judges ? Specify the composition of these jurisdictions.

— 2. How is the responsibility/irresponsibility of the minor established judicially ? Does the jury or do the non-professional judges take part in pronouncing the minor guilty or not guilty ?

— 3. Does the court have recourse to prior investigations, obligatory or optional (expertise, medico-psychological examination, personality study), before ruling on the question of the responsibility of the minor ?

— 4. Are there two distinct stages, on deciding the question of the minor’s guilt (conviction stage) and the other pronouncing the sanction (sentencing stage)?

— 5. Briefly describe the role of the victim when the crime is committed by a minor : Can the victim initiate the action ? Is the victim allowed to ask for reparation before the jurisdiction that judges the minor’s responsibility ? Can the victim obtain reparation even if the minor is considered irresponsible ? Before what court (civil or criminal)? Finally, do alternative procedures (of the mediation-reparation type) exist ?

• IV. Sanctions and Other Measures

— 1. What measures can be applied to minors before judgement (provisional detention, judicial supervision, constraining measures/ and or educative measures)?

— 2. If the minor is judged responsible, does the court have a choice between pronouncing a punishment or an educational measure, or does it have no choice ?

— 3. What is the general tendency concerning specific measures applicable to minors ?

— 4. Do legal criteria for determining the sanction exist ?

— flexible execution of the sanction)?

— 6. Does the execution of the sanction have any particular supervision and according to which modalities (for example, a magistrate which supervises the execution of the sanction)?

— 7. Does a tendency exist which favours the decriminalisation of juvenile justice ? Is this tendency based on the dissociation of the responsibility and the sanction ?

— 8. Can capital punishment be pronounced in the case of a juvenile, and if so, at what age ?

— 9. Does the punishment of life imprisonment or for an indeterminate time exist ?

• V. International Aspects

— 1. What are, briefly enumerated, the relevant dispositions in international law having an incidence on the determination of the criminal responsibility of minors ?

— 2. What authority do these dispositions have vis-à-vis national sources ?

— 3. Do they have a real influence in positive law (for example, direct application)?

— 4. Do particular dispositions exist concerning the criminal responsibility of foreign minors ? How, for example, can one determine the age of a minor in the absence of official documents that attest to the alleged age ?

— 5. Do special dispositions concerning police, judicial and penitentiary cooperation exist that apply to minors who are in a criminal procedure ?