The Possibilities of criminal law to measure the social maturity of young adults (18-20 years)

• International network of doctoral studies in law: knygos tekstas

ENThe paper deals with the challenges the term of social maturity poses distinguishing the age group of young adults and dealing with the question of their criminal responsibility according to the Penal Code of the Republic of Lithuania. Legal norms foresee the possibility to apply the peculiarities of Juvenile Justice system to young adults (18–20 years), when their social maturity is equal to juvenile‘s maturity. The term of social maturity in this context creates the intersection of criminal law, criminology, psychology and sociology and makes the judicial practice applying the legal norm of young adults complicated. The Juvenile Justice system’s borders have broadened, but only theoretically. The author analyses the concept and content of social maturity both from legal and psychological perspective, and it’s realization in the practice of Lithuanian courts dealing with the criminal cases of young offenders. The author argues that the ambiguous concept of social maturity is the main reason why the evaluation of young adults’ social maturity is so rare. In judicial practice the content of social maturity is usually identified assessing the character of the criminal offence, motive and other circumstances that seem important for the judge. But what content of these circumstances witnesses one or other level of social maturity, the Law is not able to answer unless invoking psychological and sociological knowledge. The tools and procedures for such interdisciplinary cooperation are facing difficulties and are still under development. [From the publication]