Critical Analysis of Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility (MACR) in Pakistan

Authors

  • Mukhtiar Ali Shar Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University, Singapore
  • Jawad Hussain Shar High Court of Sindh, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54938/ijemdss.2026.05.1.739

Keywords:

Criminal Responsibility, Juvenile, Doli Incapax, Therapeutic Jurisprudence

Abstract

Every child can commit a criminal act but not every child will be criminally accountable. Criminal sanctions on minors are determined by the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility (MACR) even if the act committed by the minor has all the elements of crime. Every country in the world has set a different age for Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility. Pakistan has also set criteria of MACR for different purposes which has caused the disparity so, this research is an effort to critically analyze the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility in Pakistan, what are the reasons and standards behind setting too low MACR and how negatively the image of Pakistan is being portrayed because of too low MACR standards.

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Published

2026-06-24

How to Cite

Mukhtiar Ali Shar, & Jawad Hussain Shar. (2026). Critical Analysis of Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility (MACR) in Pakistan. International Journal of Emerging Multidisciplinaries: Social Science, 5(1), 415–429. https://doi.org/10.54938/ijemdss.2026.05.1.739

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Section

Research Article