Abstract
Gideon Yaffe argues that children should be treated as less culpable by the criminal justice system because children have little political say over the law. I analyze several elements of Yaffe’s argument and express qualified agreement with his thesis. Though I reject the role he assigns to the notions of desert and legal reasons, I agree that people who lack political power are less accountable to the criminal justice system’s legal authorities.
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Gideon Yaffe’s The Age of Culpability: Children and the Nature of Criminal Responsibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).
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Kelly, E.I. Comments on Gideon Yaffe, The Age of Culpability: Children and the Nature of Criminal Responsibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018). J Ethics 24, 281–286 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10892-020-09331-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10892-020-09331-5