Child Soldiers Research Paper

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Take a minute to imagine that a very close relative of yours became a United States soldier and was stationed in Africa. One day, a general comes to your door with a grave face. He explains to you that your family member was killed in combat. You become immensely filled with sadness and anger. Then, the general tells you that a child soldier, in whom was forced into the job, was the killer. The child is put on trial. Would you believe that the child should receive amnesty or be prosecuted? Continue to think about this question while considering the information about to be presented. Child soldiers should receive amnesty for their crimes, for they are forced, abused, and are technically too young to be in court. One reason that child soldiers…show more content…
This is mostly unknown, but the International Criminal Court Article 26 “prohibits the court from prosecuting anyone under the age of 18,” (First Reflection - Child Soldiers: Invisible Children). This means that when child soldiers are tried in court and prosecuted, the 26th Article is being broken and ignored. Also, as stated by The Children and Justice During and in the Aftermath Conflict, “If a child under the age of 15 is considered too young to fight, then he or she must also be considered too young to be held criminally responsible for serious violations of IHL [International Humanitarian Law] while associated with armed forces or armed groups” (First Response - Child Soldiers: Invisible Children). This is significant because these people are called child soldiers, meaning that they are essentially too young to be considered a real soldier. This corporation explains that since they are not real soldiers, they should not be held responsible for the actions of a real soldier. In “First Response - Child Soldiers: Invisible Children”, it is stated that, “There should be a difference in criminal age responsibility between child soldiers like Ishmael Beah, who was forced into fighting at the age of 13 due to the civil war in Sierra Leone and the two children who committed the vicious of James Bulger [a three year old boy].” This illustrates that if the child must be prosecuted, he/she should have committed a crime too terrible to leave unattended and/or was mentally stable when that child was completing the

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