Conference: “Different Perspectives on the Status of Minors”

Friday, November 10, 2017, from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
School of Law and Political Science, Lecture Hall 201, Building 2

The Symposium “ Different Perspectives on the Status of Minors ", organized by Professor Marie-Christine Sordino, director of the criminal law team at Montpellier, and Ms. Gaëlle Serva, Ph.D. in Law from the University of Montpellier, addresses a highly topical issue.
The recent reforms of March 14, 2016, regarding “ child protection " and November 18, 2016, known as " on the Modernization of the Justice System for the 21st Century "demonstrate, once again, just how necessary it is to reflect on the legal status of minors in France."
Should be considered “ not as a miniature adult, but as a person in the process of developing ", according to Mr. Robert BADINTER, the medical-legal care of minors—whether offenders or victims—poses a definite challenge for the various judicial and social actors, requiring them to strike a balance between the need for punishment, the duty to educate, and the need for special protection.
However, it must be acknowledged that this delicate balance is still difficult to achieve. For a century, the legal status of minors has remained at the heart of intractable debates—on issues such as the very definition of minority, the determination of a minor’s civil and criminal liability, and the assessment of a minor’s capacity to discern or consent to sexual offenses.
Featuring a variety of presentations, roundtable discussions, and debates, this scientific conference organized by the Montpellier Criminal Law Team (EDPM-UMR 5815) Dynamics of Law), therefore, aims to explore these various points in greater depth. By bringing together the perspectives of academics as well as professionals—including lawyers, psychologists, nonprofit representatives, and youth justice officials—it traces and nuances the various advances and gray areas within the justice system as it deals with minors who occupy an ambivalent position, straddling the line between offenders and victims.