Juvenile Justice: Understanding Adolescent Criminal Liability

Posted on Dec 12, 2024 in Law & Jurisprudence

System of Adolescent Criminal Liability

  • Section of Adolescent Criminal Court
  • Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court
  • Attorney General
  • Public Defenders
  • Police Research
  • Programs and Support Bodies

Youth Section of the Criminal Court

  1. Control Tribunal
  2. Trial Court
    • Mixed (composed of a judge and two lay judges)
    • Sole (one judge, provisional)
  3. Implementation Tribunal
  4. Court of Appeals

Criminal Penalties

Article 253. Torture

Any public official who, personally or through another, inflicts severe suffering or pain on a child or adolescent for the purpose of obtaining information from the victim or a third party shall be punished with imprisonment of one to five years.

Article 254. Cruelty

Anyone who subjects a child or adolescent under their authority, custody, or supervision to cruel physical or psychological victimization shall be punished with imprisonment of one to three years.

Article 255. Forced Labor

Anyone who subjects a child or adolescent to work under threat shall be punished with imprisonment of one to three years.

Article 256. Admission or Profits from Contraindicated Work

Anyone who allows a child or adolescent to work in activities not indicated in the result of a comprehensive medical examination shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years.

Article 257. Admission or Profits from Work of Children Under 8 Years

Anyone who admits to work or benefits from the work of a child of eight years or less shall be punished with imprisonment of one to three years.

Article 258. Sexual Exploitation

Anyone who encourages, directs, or profits from the sexual activity of a child or young person shall be punished with imprisonment from three to six years.

Article 259. Child Molestation

Whoever performs sexual acts with a child or participates in them shall be punished with imprisonment of one to three years.

Article 260. Adolescent Sexual Abuse

Whoever engages in sexual acts with an adolescent against their consent, or participates in them, will be punishable under the preceding article.

Article 261. Supply of Arms, Ammunition, and Explosives

Anyone who sells, supplies, or delivers arms, ammunition, or explosives to a child or young person shall be punished with imprisonment of one to five years.

Article 262. Supply of Fireworks

Anyone who sells, supplies, or delivers fireworks to an adolescent shall be punished with imprisonment from three months to one year.

Article 263. Supply of Substances

Anyone who sells, supplies, or wrongly delivers to a child or adolescent products whose ingredients may cause physical or psychological dependence shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years if the act does not constitute a more serious crime.

Article 264. Use of Children or Adolescents to Commit Crimes

Anyone who commits a crime in concurrence with a child or young person shall be punished with imprisonment of one to three years.

Article 265. Inclusion of Children or Adolescents in Criminal Groups

Those who promote, manage, participate in, or benefit from partnerships formed to commit crimes, that include an adolescent or child recruited for this purpose, shall be sentenced to prison for two to six years.

Article 266. Trafficking of Children and Adolescents

Those who promote, aid, or benefit from acts intended to send a child or young person abroad without observance of legal formalities in order to obtain undue profit shall be punished with imprisonment from two to six years.

Article 267. Profits from the Delivery of Children or Adolescents

Anyone who promises or gives a child, ward, or person under their care to a third party for payment or reward shall be punished with imprisonment from two to six years.

Article 268. False Imprisonment

Anyone who deprives a child or young person of their liberty, except in cases expressly authorized by this Act, shall be punished with imprisonment.

Article 269. Lack of Notification of Arrest

Any police officer responsible for the apprehension of a child or adolescent who does not immediately inform the public prosecutor and the person nominated by the arrested individual shall be punished with imprisonment from three months to one year.

Article 270. Disrespect for Authority

Anyone who impedes, obstructs, or fails to comply with the action of the judicial authority, the Council for the Protection of Children and Adolescents, or the Public Prosecutor, in exercising its functions under this Act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for six months to two years.

Article 271. Perjury

Those who give false testimony in any proceedings under this Act shall be punishable with imprisonment from six months to two years.

Article 272. Abduction and Retention of Children or Adolescents

Whoever removes a child or adolescent from the person who has custody by virtue of the Act or order of the authority shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years.

Article 273. Omission of Registration of Birth

Any doctor, nurse, or health service manager who fails to correctly identify an infant and the mother at the time of delivery shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years.

Article 274. Failure of Attention

Any doctor, nurse, or health service manager who fails to attend to a child or adolescent in an emergency situation, as referred to in Article 48, shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years.

Article 275. Failure to Report

Whoever, being required by law to report a fact in which a child or adolescent has been victimized, fails to do so immediately, shall be punished with imprisonment from three months to one year.