Criminal intent is defined as the "intent to do something wrong or forbidden by law...the state of mind accompanying an act...the outline of the mental pattern which is necessary to do the crime..." (USLEGAL, 2011). Can a child commit a crime with criminal intent? The answer lies in biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial growth factors. By law, in the United States, a six year old cannot be held responsible for the commission of a criminal act, because a six year old is not yet cognitively capable of acting with intent. There are biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial reasoning that make it illogical to charge a child of such young age of acting with malicious intent. The biosocial factors include the inability of a child this age to control emotional impulses and injury controls; cognitively, children are unable to view the world outside their own perspectives; and psychosocial factors include emotional regulation and media influence.
Biosocial
The brain of a six year old has not yet completely developed. Lateralization is still in the early processes of connecting the right and left sides of the brain hemispheres (Berger, 2008). In practical terms, this means the right hemisphere responsible for reasoning, analyzing, and thinking logically and the left hemisphere responsible for emotions are not in clear, constant, and complete communication (Berger, 2008). A six year old child is unable to use analysis, logic, or reason to control emotional impulsiveness; for this reason, injury controls need to be in place to protect the child from himself. In the case of a crime involving guns primary prevention methods include federal laws (background checks and waiting periods); secondary prevention methods include parents keeping guns in a locked container with ammunition in a separate, secure area and child-proof trigger locks on all guns; and tertiary prevention would include the removal of all guns and ammunitions from the home after a crime has occurred.
Cognitive
Children are unable to comprehend the difference between reality and what the child believes. Piaget described the thinking characteristics of children ages 2-6 as centric: two of the four contraction characteristics specifically apply to intent and they are egocentrism and static reasoning (Berger, 2008). Six year olds are egocentric or self-centered, which means the child can only view the world from his own perspective, and the use of static reasoning means the child believes that the world remains the same as long as he is not watching. Vygotsky discovered that children are "apprentices in thinking" (Berger, 2008, p.234). In other words, 6 year olds are unable to think critically for themselves and will mimic the thoughts, actions, and speech of adults.
Psychosocial
Six year olds are still in the process of learning to regulate emotions; violent outbursts, uncontrollable crying, and other emotional uncontrollable emotional outlets are not yet a thing of the past (Berger, 2008). Reactive, instrumental, and bullying aggressions improve as emotional regulation improves (Berger, 2008). Media plays a significant role in psychosocial development; Berger (2008) states, "...when a cartoon animal or even a person explodes on the screen, they [children] are more likely to cheer than to cry" p. 270. Exposure to violence through media outlets reduces the child's ability to feel empathy; additionally, emotional regulation is highly dependent upon parental responsiveness, and studies have shown parental responsiveness decreases as media time increases (Berger, 2008).
Conclusion
Multiple factors are at play in development that prevents a six year old child from being held accountable for his actions. Young children are unable to regulate emotion, control emotional impulses, or view circumstances from another's perspective. Children 6 years of age are unable to develop intent based on biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial aspects of the developing brain and mental processes, and cannot be held legally accountable for crimes they commit.
References
Berger, K. S. (2008). The developing person: Through the life span. Worth Publishers, New York.
USLEGAL. (2011). Criminal intent law & legal definition. US Legal.com. Retrieved from http://definitions.uslegal.com/c/criminal-intent/.
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