Skip to content
Skip to main content

About this free course

Download this course

Share this free course

Youth justice in the UK: children, young people and crime
Youth justice in the UK: children, young people and crime

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

Session 1: Children or criminals?

Introduction

This first session is all about the age of criminal responsibility – the age at which someone can be arrested and charged with a criminal offence. This is important because it says so much about the way society thinks of children. In this session you will consider how the law defines the boundary between being an adult and a child and sets limits on what someone is allowed to do. You will use the internet to listen to people talking about the issues. You will also get to see what children think about the way the criminal law attaches labels to them.

Watch the following video, in which course author Rod Earle from The Open University introduces this session.

Download this video clip.Video player: Session 1 introduction
Copy this transcript to the clipboard
Print this transcript
Show transcript|Hide transcript
Video _unit2.1.1 Session 1 introduction
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

  • appreciate how the age of criminal responsibility is a key indicator of social responses to children’s behaviour
  • understand that there are wide international variations in the age of criminal responsibility.

The Open University would really appreciate you taking a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations of the course. Your input will help to improve the online learning experience. If you would like to help, and if you haven’t done so already, please fill in this optional survey [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .