In the UK The minimum age of criminalityis 10 years old, this being an age where children are fully aware of right and wrong.

"An age of criminal responsibility (ACR) is the minimum age that a child can be prosecuted and punished by law for an offence and is 10 years in England and Wales.[i] There are frequent calls to raise it from the United Nations (UN)[ii], professional bodies[iii] [iv] and academics[v], as well as legal attempts."

 Under modern day events, I would disagree. There appears to be far more young people involved in violent crime including murder than ever before. The James Bulger case set many new precedencies in legal procedures - but I do not believe that the punishment given to violent children is strong enough to deter them from crime. I do not agree with the idea that children learn to become who they are from society - they have that mental make up when they are born and use society as an excuse. Or are criminals just 'mentally disturbed' people?