【問題文】
The age at which a child can be held criminally responsible for breaking the law varies a good deal from country to country. According to UNICEF, this currently varies from as low as six to as high as eighteen, with Japan somewhere in between at fourteen. In your opinion, at what point should the age of criminal responsibility be set? Write in ENGLISH and give appropriate reasons to support your answer.
■ 解答例1(高めの年齢を主張)
I believe the age of criminal responsibility should be set no lower than sixteen. First, brain science shows that the prefrontal cortex, which governs impulse control and long-term judgment, is not fully developed until the late teens. Punishing a twelve-year-old as a fully rational adult ignores this biological reality. Second, rehabilitation is far more effective than punishment for young offenders. A child who commits a crime at ten is usually reacting to a chaotic home environment or peer pressure rather than acting out of deliberate malice, and treating them as criminals from an early age risks locking them into a cycle of reoffending. For these reasons, I would set the age at sixteen, with special welfare-based programs for younger children who break the law.
■ 解答例2(現状維持〜やや低めを主張)
In my opinion, the age of criminal responsibility should remain around fourteen, as it currently stands in Japan. On the one hand, children need protection because their judgment is still developing. On the other hand, setting the age too high can leave victims without justice and give older teenagers a false sense that they can act with impunity. A fourteen-year-old is generally capable of understanding that stabbing someone or stealing is wrong, even if their impulse control is imperfect. Furthermore, an age around fourteen still allows the justice system to combine punishment with rehabilitation through family courts and juvenile detention centers, rather than either ignoring serious crimes or treating children as fully responsible adults. A balance point in the young teens therefore seems most reasonable.
■ 覚えておきたい表現・文法
・held criminally responsible for ~ = ~について刑事責任を問われる(受動態+for)
・vary a good deal from A to A = AによってかなりばらつきがあるVariety表現の定番
・no lower than ~ =より低くない、少なくとも(比較級を使った下限の示し方)
・prefrontal cortex = 前頭前皮質(英検1級の心理・脳科学系語彙として頻出)
・govern impulse control = 衝動抑制を司る(governは「支配する・左右する」の意味で使える動詞)
・rehabilitation vs. punishment の対比構造は、少年犯罪・刑罰系のテーマで非常によく使う型
・act out of deliberate malice = 意図的な悪意から行動する(malice=悪意、英検1級語彙)
・risk -ing = ~するリスクを冒す(risk locking them intoのように動名詞を続ける)
・false sense of impunity = 罰を受けないという誤った感覚(impunity=処罰されないこと)
・a balance point/a middle ground = 折衷案、というまとめ方は意見が割れるテーマの結論部で汎用性が高い
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