COVID-19, Children's Rights and the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility

Recent preliminary studies highlight that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected children. The nature and duration of the pandemic has adversely impacted their social and emotional development because they have grown up in isolation from their peers due to school closures and social distancing measures. Studies suggest this social exclusion may have prevented them from learning positive social behaviours which would usually occur through socialisation. The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) highlights the importance of state parties having protections in place that recognise the importance of neurological, biological and sociological developments. They require state parties to recognise the concept of evolving capacities as an ‘enabling principle that addresses the process of maturation and learning, through which children progressively acquire competencies, understanding and increasing levels of agency to take responsibility and exercise their rights’. The CRC recommended in 2019 a minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) of at least 14 years old. This paper will argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted children to such an extent that the CRC should review their recommendations on the MACR and consider recommending a ‘developmental immaturity defence’, to enhance the rights of those who are now more developmentally vulnerable. This paper will explore these issues in the context of the United Kingdom.