The Age of Accountability

There appeared recently in our local newspaper [The Seattle Times of October 25, 2010] a report that two boys ages ten and eleven may not stand trial for a violent attack and robbery they are accused of perpetrating on a community bus because they may be too young to know the difference between right and wrong. Quoting from the article, prosecutors will “have to prove in court that they [the youths] have the intellectual, moral and psychological development to fully understand the crime they’re accused of committing.” “Under state law, a child between the ages of 8 and 11 is presumed to be incapable of committing a crime unless a judge determines the youth has the ‘sufficient capacity to understand the act . . . and to know that it was wrong.’ ” So much for about six thousand years of God’s instruction on this subject.

With the restoration of the fulness of the gospel and the Kingdom of God in this final dispensation, the Lord made clear once again that the age of accountability is eight years of age unless, of course, an individual’s mental development is seriously impaired. Concerning what is necessary for salvation, the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith the following: “And you must preach unto the world, saying: You must repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ; For all men must repent and be baptized, and not only men, but women, and children who have arrived at the years of accountability” (Doctrine and Covenants 18:41-42). The year was 1829. Two years later and subsequent to the restoration of His Church, the Lord revealed His will very specifically. “And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents. For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized. And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands. And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord” (D&C 68:25-28).

There are those parents who are members of the stakes of Zion as organized that do not see fit to follow the Lord’s revealed will on this matter. Possibly, they seek to shelter their children from the effects of their being accountable for their misdeeds. Unfortunately, however, their children remain accountable while they themselves are unaware of the consequences of their state. The Lord makes it clear that such parents will be held accountable for this sorry situation. I suspect that not a few of these delinquent parents are rationalizing their position by thinking that the Prophet Joseph Smith really did not understand the will of God given that nowhere in the scriptures previous to this dispensation is there a confirmation of age eight being the historic standard. And then again, perhaps they believe that they can better judge their children’s capabilities and maturity as opposed to any arbitrary standard set through revelation.

Therein they would be mistaken. For we learn in the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible that age eight has been the age of accountability since at least the days of Abraham. “And I will establish a covenant of circumcision with thee, and it shall be my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations; that thou mayest know for ever that children are not accountable before me until they are eight years old” (Genesis 17:11 JST). Now if this is the age of accountability for the descendants of Abraham in all subsequent dispensations to the end of the world per the Abrahamic covenant, may we assume anything else other than this was the standard from the days of Adam until the time of Abraham? I think not. Thus the age of accountability being eight years of age was not a measure determined by the Prophet Joseph Smith nor was it set for this dispensation alone by heavenly authority. This is our Heavenly Father’s standard that was established for the benefit of His mortal children living in all dispensations.