_The Question of the Capacity for Understanding the Punishable Character of Criminal Offences._--The notion of the capacity for understanding the punishable character of criminal offences is unworkable in practice. It considers the intellectual element only, whereas in children we have to distinguish between intellectual maturity and moral. Intellectual maturity is commonly attained earlier than moral, and intellectual maturity alone should not render the child liable to punishment. Often a child is mature enough to distinguish what is allowed from what is forbidden, but is not yet strong enough to refrain from the latter course. The most striking example of this is to be found in the case of young proletarians, in whom, in consequence of their premature contact with the manifold factors of life, the mental development is often premature to an astonishing degree, but this intellectual precocity stands contrasted with conspicuous moral immaturity. It is hard to determine what factors have to be taken into consideration in deciding whether a child has attained intellectual and moral maturity. It is essential to examine--(_a_) whether the child has an accurate conception of the nature of punishment; (_b_) whether it understands what legal principle is infringed or threatened by its act; (_c_) whether it possesses such a degree of moral maturity that, through possession of the conception alluded to in section (_a_), and of the understanding alluded to in section (_b_), it was competent to refrain from the criminal offence. In the case of almost all punishable offences another solution of this problem is possible. The more serious the punishable offence, the earlier the age at which a child is competent to understand its character. But, in many cases, it is an obvious inference that a child which from absurd motives has committed so serious an offence cannot possibly possess the requisite moral maturity. Moreover, the three factors we have mentioned cannot be accurately defined. In maturity there are many degrees and stages, passing imperceptibly one into another, and exceedingly difficult to differentiate. The decision of this question will therefore be the work of experts, who will have to keep the child under observation for months. It follows that a decision as to criminal responsibility based upon an understanding of the punishable nature of an offence is, of necessity, and in every case, uncertain and unequal.