Age of legal responsibility in Georgia

[thedarkman]

Does anyone know what this is, in particular can anyone point me to a
statute?

I gather this is done on a state by state basis; in Britain we have
one statute for the whole country, but can you tell me where to look?
Thanks

[s***@whiteegebrownegg.net]

On Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:46:40 -0700 (PDT), thedarkman

Re: Age of legal responsibility in Georgia
Does anyone know what this is, in particular can anyone point
me to a statute?

in ga., usa, there is not a one size fits all age of being
compared with not being legally responsible. so: legal responsibility
for what, in other words, in connection with exactly what sorts of
acts/transactions in what circumstances?
eg., legally responsibility for contracts entered into for
necessaries? legally responsibility for contracts for other than
necessaries that will not be later disavowable and set aside on the
grounds of infancy? legal responsibility as a result of having become
emancipated and so vested with all the same rights of not criminally
convicted and sentenced and imprisoned adults? having the right and
legal responsibility to consent to sexual intercourse or other sexual
touching? being legally responsible for act of damage causing
negligence or not? being entitled to be tried on a criminal charge as
a minor or being permitted or required to be tried for a criminal
charge as an adult? being legally responsible for the purpose of
marrying (and, as a legally married person, then to be permitted to
engage in sexual behavior that would not be legal if one was not
legally married)? and so on ....
different ga. statutes as construed and applied by ga. judicial
decisions govern these different sorts of fact patterns.
your much too open ended question therefore cannot be helpfully
answered without you being more contextually specific.

[thedarkman]

Sorry for the delay, I was referring specifically to age of criminal
responsibility. At what age can a crime be charged?

Re: Age of legal responsibility in Georgia
Does anyone know what this is, in particular can anyone point
me to a statute?

     in ga., usa, there is not a one size fits all age of being
compared with not being legally responsible.  so: legal responsibility
for what, in other words, in connection with exactly what sorts of
acts/transactions in what circumstances?
     eg., legally responsibility for contracts entered into for
necessaries?  legally responsibility for contracts for other than
necessaries that will not be later disavowable and set aside on the
grounds of infancy?  legal responsibility as a result of having become
emancipated and so vested with all the same rights of not criminally
convicted and sentenced and imprisoned adults?  having the right and
legal responsibility to consent to sexual intercourse or other sexual
touching? being legally responsible for act of damage causing
negligence or not?  being entitled to be tried on a criminal charge as
a minor or being permitted or required to be tried for a criminal
charge as an adult?  being legally responsible for the purpose of
marrying (and, as a legally married person, then to be permitted to
engage in sexual behavior that would not be legal if one was not
legally married)?  and so on ....
     different ga. statutes as construed and applied by ga. judicial
decisions govern these different sorts of fact patterns.
     your much too open ended question therefore cannot be helpfully
answered without you being more contextually specific.

[c***@jprude.net]

---------------------------------------------------------
Re: Age of legal responsibility in Georgia ... of criminal
responsibility. At what age can a crime be charged?
---------------------------------------------------------

The factors on which an answer will depend include these

what you mean by 'criminal' and whether as relevant to

the persons and events of present interest to you it would be
appropriate or perhaps even necessary to include 'delinquency' within
the definition of what is 'criminal' or not,

the nature of the offense charged or being

contemplated, and

the age of and other facts relating to the juvenile in

question including he or she and, if there are any, those in a
position to help him or her realistically would have the interest and
financial and other ability to claim and do and when and how they try
to do it.

Subject to any number of possible qualifications depending on
the relevant specifics, there is generally speaking no legislatively
specified youngest age at which a juvenile may be charged and
adjudicated delinquent and, for serious crimes, the following probably
is a fair and accurate summary -

Sect. 15-11-28 of the Ga. Code directs that the state's
superior court has exclusive jurisdiction to try certain felony and
other serious charges against a juvenile aged thirteen to seventeen
but confers pre-indictment discretion on the district attorney after
investigation and for extraordinary cause to decline to prosecute in
the superior court and to bring the case in the appropriate juvenile
court.

Ga. case law also is to the effect that a juvenile in has no
absolute right to be tried as a juvenile. Nor, as first suggested
above, would purporting to answer your question in the vague manner
you pose it necessarily answer to what extent a juvenile shall or may
be treated as an adult for criminal law purposes. See, for example,
Bishop v. State, 265 Ga. 821 (1995), and Pascarella v. State, 294 Ga.
App. 414 (2008).