Abstract
The chapter is dedicated to the problematics of rational and moral maturity, which is regulated in § 5, paragraph 1 of the of Act No 218/2003 Coll. on the criminal responsibility of juveniles and jurisdiction of juvenile. The author first briefly focuses on the psychological development of juveniles and then presents two existing opinions on the relative criminal responsibility of juveniles - whether this is a special case of insanity or a separate reason excluding the criminal responsibility of the juvenile.
She also deals with the means of evidence related to rational and moral maturity, describes the development of the provisions regulating expert examination of the mental state of the juvenile and draws attention to the case-law on this issue. At the end of the chapter there is an analysis of two cases from the practice and there are presented some mistakes of the bodies involved in criminal proceedings.
In conclusion the author summarizes the proposals de lege ferenda.