Searching Threshold Test: A Critical Analysis of Age Determination in Juvenile Justice System of Pakistan
Keywords:
Juvenile, Age determination, Juvenile Justice System, Juvenile Justice System Act 2018, Rights of JuvenileAbstract
The juvenile justice system (JJS) internationally has shifted from punitive strategies to more compassionate and personalized approaches. Central to this shift is the question: who is a juvenile? The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) defines a child as "every human being below the age of eighteen years," unless state legislation sets a different age of majority. However, in Pakistan, criminal law provides varying criteria for declaring a person a juvenile, thus, it leads to diverse interpretations by the higher courts in Pakistan. The courts of law have established specific principles regarding age determination, and this research aims to critically analyze those principles in JJS of Pakistan through case-law-based-studies and qualitative research. This work aims to address the complexities and inconsistencies that exits in defining a person juvenile within the Pakistani legal framework and to search for a threshold test, keeping in due regard to those principles enunciated by the courts, in declaring a person a juvenile.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Muhammad Rizwan Tahir, Noreen Akhtar, Bilal Abdul Jabbar, Hafiz Muhammad Azeem
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