Contents

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JCL 75 (2011) 289

Criminal Responsibility and Children: A New Defence Required to Acknowledge the Absence of Capacity and Choice
Catherine Elliott

When children reach 10 years old they are exposed to the full brunt of the criminal law with no defence available to them to reflect their status as children. Legal theorists have repeatedly argued that criminal responsibility should only be imposed on individuals who have the capacity and freedom to choose how they behave. Children only have limited personal autonomy and therefore lack this capacity and freedom to make a genuine choice about their behaviour. They should therefore benefit from a new defence which moves away from the doli incapax emphasis on moral understanding and is available to children up to the age of 14.

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JCL 75 (2011) 309

HIV, Trust and the Criminal Law
James Slater

This article explores the legitimacy of criminalising nondisclosure of HIV-positive status to sexual partners. Its principal aim is to propose a new offence that criminalises such non-disclosure when it constitutes a breach of trust. In defending the proposed offence, the article argues that the criminal law has a legitimate function in penalising breach of trust when the breach causes both personal and social harm. The article also explores whether the existing offences of s. 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and rape (s. 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) are suited to criminalising non-disclosure, and concludes that they are not. The article additionally considers the arguments against the criminalisation of non-disclosure advanced by various commentators and argues that its proposed offence avoids the concerns expressed. The article concludes that the proposed offence is both a morally justified and practically realistic way of criminalising non-disclosure of HIV-positive status.

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Links to other issues

Volume 65 (2001) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 66 (2002) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 67 (2003) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 68 (2004) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 69 (2005) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 70 (2006) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 71 (2007) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 72 (2008) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 73 (2009) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 74 (2010) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 75 (2011) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 76 (2012) :   2   3   4   5   6

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