Why the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility in Romania does not represent a solution. Warnings issued by an NGO for children's rights and the proposed model.

The lowering of the age of criminal responsibility does not contribute to reducing the criminal acts committed by adolescents, but may exacerbate this phenomenon, warns the organization Save the Children, which emphasizes that Romania currently lacks the necessary infrastructure for the protection and rehabilitation of minors who have committed criminal acts.

There are no specialized units for children under 14 who have committed criminal acts

Reducing the age of criminal responsibility, following the crime in Cenei, Timiș County, may open a vicious circle of delinquency, warn experts from Save the Children, especially in the context where the Romanian system for the protection and rehabilitation of minors who have committed criminal acts is marked by shortages.

According to the organization, Romania currently has only 4 specialized units administered by the National Administration of Penitentiaries (ANP), intended for minors (14-18 years old) against whom educational measures involving deprivation of liberty have been ordered. These are divided into two categories:

Educational centers (2 units): Buziaș Educational Center (Timiș County) and Târgu Ocna Educational Center (Bacău County). They are intended for minors who have committed less serious acts and where the regime is focused on school and vocational training activities. Educational centers (2 units): Buziaș Educational Center (Timiș County) and Târgu Ocna Educational Center (Bacău County). They are intended for minors who have committed less serious acts and where the regime is focused on school and vocational training activities.

Moreover, in the case of children under 14 who commit criminal acts for which special protective measures have been taken for placement in a residential center, there are no specialized units, and they are placed together with other categories of children (victims of abuse, children with disabilities, etc.).

Insufficient specialized staff for the reintegration of children

Furthermore, the specialized staff (psychologists, social workers, mediators, educators) in the field of reintegrating children in conflict with the law is absolutely insufficient. In the absence of adequate programs and centers, the authorities' decision is often to place the child in the general protection system without a clear therapeutic intervention plan. If Romania truly wants to prevent absolutely unacceptable acts, such as the killing of a child, then political attention and resources must be directed towards social assistance, education, and mental health services for vulnerable children or those with antisocial behaviors, not towards stricter penal codes.

"There are not enough functional alternative educational measures in Romania (mandatory counseling program, community service for adolescents, complex community services) that can truly replace entry into the justice system. Romanian legislation indeed provides for special protective measures (special supervision, placement, etc.) for children under 14 or for those between 14 and 16 years old considered without discernment, but their application depends on non-existent services or very little funding," says the organization in a press release.

How the organization proposes to manage cases of children under 14 who commit criminal acts

According to Save the Children, instead of punishment and imprisonment, investment in prevention, early intervention, and integrated support proves to be effective in advanced countries, with Norway as an example.

"International models demonstrate that rehabilitation and inclusion-centered approaches yield concrete results. For example, Norway has transformed its penal system into one that is extremely humane and focused on reintegration. Studies show that Norway, which invests heavily in education and life skills in prisons, now has the lowest recidivism rate in the world, at about 20% two years after release. This success is due to the 'Principle of Normality' which assumes that life in detention should resemble life outside as much as possible. Thus, nearly 90% of Norwegian inmates spend less than a year in detention, and prioritizing relationships with family, education, and psychological counseling contributes to the successful reintegration of young people into society," emphasizes the NGO.

Measures that protect vulnerable children begin even before they reach prison, emphasizes Save the Children.

Models such as the 'Violence Reduction Unit' in Scotland or Nordic therapeutic programs, the NGO further states, focus on analyzing and addressing the root causes (poverty, social segregation, mental health).

For instance, in Glasgow, youth violence has been approached as a public health issue, and mixed teams (police-social-school) intervene at the first signs of antisocial behavior. Early interventions (family counseling, specialized educational programs, training activities, and mentoring among adolescents) have drastically reduced recidivism and violence among young people.

The transition from a punitive culture to a preventive culture in juvenile justice is also supported by the specialized literature: it shows that therapeutic programs and alternatives to detention lead to greater reductions in recidivism compared to traditional penalties. More concretely, a global study notes that well-structured interventions for children, based on psychosocial counseling, educational interventions, and restorative justice, produce much better results in achieving reintegration compared to strictly retributive approaches.

Save the Children Romania insists on the example of developing local counseling and socio-educational intervention centers, information campaigns for families, and mobile early intervention teams (multidisciplinary), all as effective alternatives to entering the penal system.

Additionally, the NGO believes that the introduction of 'Health Education' into the common curriculum, which should include aspects related to emotional health, healthy nutrition, sexuality, substance abuse prevention, digital education, and environmental education, and this issue of violence among children that starts from acts of bullying and culminates in serious acts such as the killing of a child.

What happens in countries that lower or have lowered the minimum age of criminal responsibility

Between 2010-2012, Denmark lowered the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14 years. A national report demonstrated that this reform did not reduce the number of 14-year-olds who committed criminal acts. Moreover, the recidivism rate at 14 years increased by 10% in the case of those judged in the justice system, compared to those previously treated in the social protection system.

Severe penal intervention had negative educational consequences, and most 14-year-olds judged by the courts had poorer school performance than previous generations. The measure was abandoned after only 20 months, and the age of criminal responsibility was restored to 15 years in March 2012 by a new government, according to the NGO.

Furthermore, Save the Children highlights the case of Australia. "At the national level, the current threshold is 10 years. However, there is a strong reform movement supported by doctors, lawyers, and child rights organizations, calling for the age to be raised to 14, in accordance with UN recommendations. In 2023, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) became the first jurisdiction to adopt a gradual increase in the age from 10 to 14 years, in two stages: to 12 years in 2023 and to 14 years effective from July 1, 2025. This change took into account a series of scientific analyses that showed that any early contact with the police or court functions as a negative label ('labeling effect'), often causing the child to perceive themselves as a criminal, accelerating the internalization of a criminal identity. Save the Children Australia has shown that data provided by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) confirms that 94% of children sentenced to detention between 10 and 13 years return to court within 12 months," emphasizes Save the Children’s statement.

And in Sweden, there is discussion about lowering the age from 15 to 13 in serious cases, but the proposal has been met with criticism from the police, the prison system, and social services, with authorities warning that involving young children in criminal networks will increase, and prisons are not prepared for such young minors.

According to the Probation and Prison Service (Kriminalvården), "it is not right for a 13-year-old child to be sent to prison," considering that this measure could have negative consequences for children and they should be cared for in other ways. So far, the proposal has been met with unanimous rejection, with no institution or organization in the field issuing a positive opinion in this regard.

The penal regulations in England and Wales, which provide for the criminal responsibility of children from 10 years old, show how risky a penal policy constructed under public emotional pressure is. After the crime in 1993 that shocked British society, when two 10-year-old children killed a two-year-old child, the authorities chose to intensify the penal response and, through the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, eliminated the principle of doli incapax ('incapable of doing harm') for children aged 10-13, effectively treating them as having full criminal capacity. More than two decades later, this approach cannot be invoked as a successful model for public safety, as knife violence has become a major phenomenon. In 2025, over 3,200 knife or offensive weapon crimes committed by children were recorded, leading to a sanction or formal measure, a level 20% higher than ten years ago, and recent public evaluations indicate a year-on-year increase in the phenomenon known as 'Knife Crime.'

About how countries in Europe have regulated the minimum age of criminal responsibility, you can also read in our article "The Cenei Crime - when does the criminal responsibility of adolescents intervene in juvenile justice systems in Europe".