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Juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency, or youth crime, is essentially punishable behaviour by young people up to the age of 18. Examples include: committing violence, stealing, robbery and threatening. In slang, it is called a MOF (offence defined as a crime).
It is only from the age of 18 that a person is criminally competent. However, there are some exceptions to this:
- One exception is when it comes to traffic offences, in which case the age is 16.
- For certain offences, young people over 16 can still be convicted under adult criminal law. This is called hand out.
A minor who commits a crime does not come before the criminal court, but before the juvenile court. The latter does not impose punishments, but measures.