未成年人“准犯罪行为”解决路径研究——以降低刑事责任年龄起点论争为视角

Study on the Solution Path for Juvenile“Quasi-criminal Behavior”:From the Perspective of the Debate on Lowering the Age for Criminal Responsibility

近年来,未成年人犯罪呈现出低龄化趋势。针对此问题,有学者提出通过降低刑事责任年龄起点的方式予以解决并引发论争。论争焦点主要集中于此种方式是否有利于遏制未成年人犯罪、所涉及的未成年人是否成熟、是否符合刑法的基本理念原则。论争之核心指向是14周岁作为刑事责任年龄起点的合理性判断。通过论争,学界对未成年人“准犯罪行为”有关问题取得一定共识。刑事责任年龄的合理“年龄值”应该是对心理年龄、智力年龄、教育年龄综合评价之后而确定。我国《刑法修正案(十一)》对刑事责任年龄相关规定作出调整,正是对以上因素进行综合考量的结果。今后的相关研究一定要避免过分迷信刑罚之功效、任意降低刑事责任年龄起点的倾向和固守刑事责任年龄起点不变、弱化刑法威慑力的倾向。

In recent years,juvenile delinquency has shown the trend of lower age.some scholars have proposed to solve the problem by lowering the age threshold of criminal responsibility,which has caused the debate.The focus of the debate is mainly on whether this way is conducive to curbing juvenile delinquency,whether the juveniles involved are mature,and whether it conforms to the basic principles of criminal law.The core of the debate is whether regarding 14 years old as the starting point of criminal responsibility is reasonable or not.By the debate,the academic circles have reached a certain consensus on the problems related to“quasi-criminal behavior”.The reasonable“age value”of criminal responsibility should be determined after the comprehensive evaluation of psychological age,intellectual age and educational age.The adjustment to age for criminal responsibility in Criminal Law Amendment(11)is just the result of comprehensive consideration of the above-mentioned factors.The future study should avoid the trend of believing the function of penalty excessively and lowering the age for criminal responsibility arbitrarily,and the trend of sticking to no change of age for criminal responsibility and weakening the deterrent of criminal law.