Click here to sign up for our newsletter. In the past, it was
felt that children under the age of seven were mentally, and
therefore legally, incapable of committing a crime. Children
between the ages of seven and fourteen were presumed to be
incapable of committing a crime, but if it could be proven that
they knew the difference between right and wrong, they could be
convicted of any adult crime. If they were convicted, they
received adult penalties, even death. Views about children's
criminality began to change in the 1800s and reformers
emphasized the need to separate children from adult criminals by
building separate children's houses of refuge. These facilities
stressed education in moral and religious values as well as
vocational skills consistent with their philosophy that children
who committed crimes needed to be guided to develop into law-
abiding citizens rather than be punished. Children were placed
in these facilities, often after very informal procedures, and
often for "non-crimes" such as runnin