Responsibility always comes with commitment. In the realm of criminal law, the content of this obligation is to accept the effects and consequences of criminal acts, that is, to bear the punishment that is considered as responds for the reprehensible acts of the criminal; But simply by committing a crime, the burden of responsibility cannot be placed on the culprit's shoulders at once, but before that, one should be considered worthy of bearing this heavy burden. Jurists call the ability to accept the burden of guilt as "imputability" and have defined it as the subject's having the power of intelligence and discretion. Therefore, if the criminal does not have intelligence and free will, one will not be responsible for his actions. In accordance with this approach, in the Belgian legal system, the lack of criminal responsibility of children is accepted.
Accordingly, in this system, criminal maturity is set at 18 years. Under this age, children cannot be sentenced based on general rules. Legal developments in this country show that although the laws have had a protective tendency towards children, in recent years due to security considerations and more protection. From society, the punitive approach has been proposed in the field of responding to the behavior of children against the law. The trend towards restorative justice in response to the behavior of children violating the law and emphasizing more parental responsibilities is also among the emerging approaches that can be seen in the Belgian legal system.