Poll: 84% of Czechs support lowering the age of criminal liability for murder to 13

An overwhelming majority of Czechs — 84% — support lowering the age of criminal liability for the most serious violent crimes, including murder, from the current 15 to 13 years old. That's according to a poll by the NMS agency, which surveyed more than a thousand respondents.

The idea of lowering the threshold for punishing the most serious violent crimes has long been championed by Justice Minister Pavel Tejc. Back in July, he stated that 13-year-olds are perfectly aware that stealing is wrong, and killing even more so, and should therefore bear responsibility for such acts.

What the survey found

According to NMS data, 57% of respondents "definitely" support lowering the age threshold, while another 27% are somewhat in favor of the measure. Only 9% of respondents opposed it, and 7% were undecided.

NMS political analyst Tereza Fridrichová pointed out how the question was worded: people were asked specifically about murder — a scenario in which, as she put it, "no one is defending the perpetrator." According to her, this level of agreement doesn't mean Czechs generally want to punish children — it's more about not wanting a serious crime to go without consequences.

At the same time, the expert noted that international experience tends to be rather discouraging: in Denmark, for example, lowering the age threshold showed no significant deterrent effect among younger children.

Minister Tejc himself, however, opposes a general lowering of the age of criminal liability from the current 15 — say, to the often-discussed 14. In his view, such a step wouldn't fundamentally change anything.

Political views barely affect opinion

The poll showed that stances on this issue are almost independent of political preference — voters of all parliamentary parties support lowering the age, with support ranging from 83 to 92 percentage points.

The idea found the strongest backing among SPD supporters at 92%, followed by ANO voters (90%), Motorists (89%), STAN (88%), the SPOLU coalition (84%) and the Pirates (83%).

Men and women responded almost identically: 85% of women and 83% of men agreed. Differences were more noticeable across age groups — among people over 65 and over 45, support reached around 90%, compared to 72% among young people aged 18–24. Even so, nearly three-quarters of that group still back the idea.

Data was collected online from July 30 to August 3, 2026, with 1,032 people taking part in the survey. A similar but even more emphatic result came from a reader poll: of nearly 14,000 readers who voted, 94.8% supported lowering the age of liability for violent crimes to 13, while only 5% were opposed.

Source: novinky.cz