Legal Definitions - infancy

Definition: Infancy is a defense used in court when a minor is accused of a crime. It means that the minor is too young to be held responsible for their actions and cannot be charged with a crime.

Example: A 10-year-old boy steals a candy bar from a store. If he is caught and charged with theft, his defense lawyer may argue that he is too young to understand the consequences of his actions and therefore cannot be held responsible for the crime.

Explanation: In this example, the defense of infancy is used to argue that the boy is not capable of criminal conduct due to his age. The defense is based on the idea that children under a certain age lack the mental capacity to understand the consequences of their actions and should not be held responsible for them.