Children under 14 are incapable of evil and should be protected from criminal responsibility, NSW review finds

Recommendations include a new legislative framework for enacting the presumption of doli incapax and introducing a voluntary pathway for children within the NSW criminal justice system Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

A centuries-old legal presumption that children aged between 10 and 14 are not capable of evil should become law, a New South Wales review led by a former supreme court judge and a former senior NSW police figure has recommended.

In NSW, the criminal age of responsibility is 10 but the common law presumption of doli incapax – Latin for “incapable of evil” – can apply up to 14, offering protection for children being prosecuted on the presumption they don’t understand the difference between right and wrong.