Children's Responsibility for Criminal Conduct: The Principle of Doli Incapax under Contemporary Australian Law

In RP v The Queen [2016] HCA 53, the High Court of Australia heard an appeal on the issue of whether a child who had engaged in sexual intercourse with his younger brother had been proved to have an understanding that his conduct at the relevant time had been seriously wrong. The Court considered the contemporary operation of the presumption that a child between the ages of 10 and 14 is doli incapax and thus not criminally responsible and considered the forms of conduct which might be sufficient to establish that the presumption is rebutted. In so doing, it affirmed the contemporary relevance of the presumption and gave important guidance as to the evidence which has the potential to lead to a proper conclusion that the presumption has been rebutted.