Children under the age of eight years are incapable of committing crime. Children of eight and under twelve years of age are presumed to be incapable of committing crime, but this presumption may be removed by proof that they have sufficient capacity to understand the act or neglect, and to know that it was wrong. Whenever in legal proceedings it becomes necessary to determine the age of a child, he or she may be produced for inspection, to enable the court or jury to determine the age thereby; and the court may also direct his or her examination by one or more physicians, whose opinion shall be competent evidence upon the question of his or her age.
RCW 9A.04.050
People capable of committing crimes—Capability of children.
Known as the Washington Criminal Code
The act spans §§ 9–9 (401 sections).
Applied in 53 court decisions — leading case Miller v. Alabama (2012)
Most recently applied in In re Pers. Restraint of Monschke (March 2021)
2011 c 336 s 347; 1975 1st ex.s. c 260 s 9A.04.050.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.