Ismael Wilfried Pierrot

It has always been natural to feel the need, if not the necessity, whenever the question of minors has been dealt with, whether in legal disciplines or not, to apply a regime that derogates from ordinary law. This need for singularization is justified by the non-existent or incomplete nature of discernment in such delicate subjects as minors. Niger’s legislature embraced this need when it passed the Juvenile Jurisdiction Act in 2014, both because of the progressive and multifaceted involvement of minors in the commission of criminal offenses and because of the pressing need to detach the law applicable to minors from ordinary law. Niger’s legislature has adopted a policy of protecting minors in conflict with the law, whether for ordinary offences or new forms of offence. Between the threshold of total criminal irresponsibility, and the softened regime of criminal responsibility for minors, Niger has managed to temper the demands of its criminal policy to reconcile them with the singular sphere of minority.