circumstance

Question 1

age of criminal responsibility

Answer 1

Two people may commit the same criminal act but will be treated differently by the law if one of them is below the age of criminal responsibility.
. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is 10 yrs old. In Scotland, it is 12 yrs old.
Most countries have separate courts to deal with offenders below a certain age.
In England and Wales, youth courts are special magistrates courts that hear cases involving people aged 10 to 17.

Question 2

homocide

Answer 2

diminished Responsibility- If a defendant can show that their mental condition substantially reduced their ability to understand what they were doing or form a rational judgement, this reduces the conviction to manslaughter.
Loss of Control- This is a partial defence that may reduce the offence to manslaughter.
Automatism- A crime must be a voluntary act- the defendant must have consciously chosen to commit it. If they can show that it was involuntary, they can plead the defence of automatism.