Geeklawyer was a bit surprised to learn that 9 year olds can be criminally prosecuted in Switzerland. One such hapless 9 year old was run over by a car and is being prosecuted for running out from behind a bus.
As a lawyer steeped in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, doli incapax and all that stuff, this seems to be somewhat repellent. The public prosecutor’s take was that it “shows them what they did wrong and prevents them from being involved in accidents in the future”. Yea, probably, but wouldn’t it be nicer quicker cheaper and less stressful to give her a teletubbies road safety video?
Rumour has it, however, that she has previous convictions for flushing a toilet in her communal block after 11pm. And perhaps one should treat a hardened recidivist more brutally. Dip her in melted cheese maybe?
mmm, fondued children…
Thank you for this comments. It’s always usefull — also for cheese eating Swiss — to get some reflection from the outside. Todays newspapers report (cf. http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/dyn/news/schweiz/593219.html) that the kid has been found not guilty and, yes, such a case is very bizarre and got some media echo. I am very happy to learn that those situations are not possible in anglo saxon countries. The confirms my belief that stories that 6 years olds has been jailed in the US are simply wrong.
I’ve not heard these stories from the US but doli incapax merely refers to the age of criminal capacity: in the UK it is 10, but in the US maybe it is 6. Not sure. Perhaps a US lawyer could comment on this point?
Thanks for the link and I’m glad it is unusual
She’s been let off? Hmmph, the chocolate-eating never-surrendering monkeys are obviously slacking. It wouldn’t have happened in the good old days.