infancy
Criminal Law
Infancy is anaffirmative defense offered by adefendant in a criminalproceeding that the defendant did not have themens rea necessary to be charged with the crime on account of their age. In other words, the defendant was too young to possess thecapacity to understand the wrongfulness of their actions. The defense of infancy originated out of a hesitancy to punishminors that are incapable of forming criminal intent as adults.
Courts may take different stances for when infancy can be used as a defense butcommon law has traditionally shown that any child under the age of seven does not have criminalliability due to theirincapacity. Additionally, children between ages seven to fourteen may have apresumption of incapacity but that presumption can be rebutted by evidence that shows the child had the capacity to understand the wrongfulness of their actions at the time of the offense. Children over fourteen have a presumption of capacity for criminality. Many states either have legislation that sets their own age ranges for infancy or havecodified the common law approach.
In recent years, the development of ajuvenile court system has lessened the need for infancy as a defense because minors aren’t being tried as adults as often. In the juvenile court system minors are typically charged asjuvenile delinquents instead of as adults, effectively negating the infancy defense because in most states, unless the state has enacted legislation which allows infancy to be used as a defense in a juvenile court setting, the defense otherwise cannot be offered (SeeIn re Tyvonne M.). The juvenile court system and infancy defense achieve similar goals with the former’s focus on rehabilitating minors that lack capacity rather than punishing them and the latter’s similar purpose to prevent punishment of minors that lack capacity. Infancy can still be offered as defense in some states, such asNew York, in cases where minors are charged as adults for particularly heinous offenses.
Civil Law
Infancy can similarly be offered as a defense tocivil liability. States are divided on what civil claims infancy can be offered as a defense to, but most only allow an infancy defense in limited circumstances.
Incontract law, infancy can be used to negate contractualobligations. In most states, contracts entered by minors arevoidable because there is a presumption that the minor did not have the capacity to enter into the contract. Additionally, theUniform Commercial Code (UCC) recognizes infancy as a defense to simple contractual obligations. (seeUCC 3-305(a)(1)).
[Last reviewed in June of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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