How would they be sentenced

A

Arsenic1324

New Member
Jurisdiction
Montana
This is all hypothetical for a story i'm writing and would like to know. If this character was forced to help murder, and dispose of bodies by a parent when they were within the ages of 5-14 or else their life would be forfeit. How would the legal process go? Are they guilty of those crimes as an accomplice or due to their inability to escape that situation would they just be rehabilitated or something? If they were 18 now would they be tried for those crimes still?
 
In the law, details matter, and you provided none.

Also, you used "they" (plural) but also used "character" singular. Are you talking about one character or multiple characters?
 
One character with gender-neutral terms as I hadn't quite decided what I wanted him to be yet. This character was coerced into being an accomplice and assisted with disposal of evidence of multiple murders committed by his guardian at a very young age. I was wondering if his involvement with those crimes were to be found out when he was no longer a minor if/what would his sentencing look like?
 
Arsenic1324 said:
This character was coerced into being an accomplice and assisted with disposal of evidence of multiple murders committed by his guardian at a very young age.
Click to expand...

Alright...like I said, details matter, but here you go.

First of all, it makes a WORLD of difference where in the range of 5-14 this character is. What does "very young age" mean? Someone at the bottom end of the range is going to get a LOT more leeway than a teenager.

How was he coerced?

What knowledge did he possess regarding the guardian's crimes? Did he personally witness murders? Or does he merely suspect things? Something in between?

What is the evidence?

How did he assist with the disposal?


Arsenic1324 said:
I was wondering if his involvement with those crimes were to be found out when he was no longer a minor if/what would his sentencing look like?
Click to expand...

Found out by whom? What exactly was found out?

Notwithstanding, here's a Reddit post from a couple years ago that addresses the idea of a juvenile crime being dealt with after adulthood. I have no comments about the correctness or thoroughness of any of the responses in the post.


By the way, one of the mods here - @cbg - has some experience with writing legal fiction and may be able to give you some insight.
 

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