Ryhina O. Child rights in the USA: a historical and legal research

The dissertation is devoted to a comprehensive study of the formation and development of the institute of children's rights in the United States. The study provides a legal analysis of historical and legal sources, analyzes the evolution and transformation of the institution of the child's right to life and his/her rights in family, civil, and labor relations. 38 The formation and evolution of the rights of a child as a subject of a criminal offense in criminal procedure, in particular, the institutions of criminal liability of minors and criminal punishment of minors are studied. Prerequisites for the establishment and further functioning of the US juvenile courts and special state institutions in the field of child rights protection in the United States are characterized. The problem of child victimization in the United States, which manifested itself in the negative phenomenon of turning a child into a victim (complainant) of a criminal offense, and ways to overcome it are analyzed. The study substantiates the reasonable restrictions on the legal status of a child as a result of incomplete physiological and psychological development, which naturally entailed the fulfillment by parents or other persons substituting them of parental responsibilities to ensure the child's survival and comprehensive harmonious physiological, psychological, educational and cultural development. The evolution of civilizational values influenced and determined the content of the term – the concept of «child» as a social, philosophical, and legal category, which underwent significant modifications that had a purely dynamic character and reflected the degree of its axiological meaning. The specifics of the scope of children's rights, which have become an integral element of their legal status, are clarified. At the same time, it is proved that the objective properties of the legal status of a child in the United States and the scope of his/her rights were determined by his/her temporal and spatial existence. Theoretical classifications of children's rights are evidence of the coverage of rights through the prism of international legal standards, taking into account the legal areas that the child faces in the process of growth before reaching the age of majority. In American legal historiography, the main focus is on the effectiveness of their protection. Given the above, the importance of the child's right to protection is proved. It is established for the first time that the understanding of the child's right to life in the United States at the present stage is based on the natus concept, but the legal regulation of human embryo protection in historical retrospect was characterized by a significant influence of embryonic theory. It is found that the protection of children's rights in the United States within the framework of family law regulation has historically been based on the legal doctrine of «best interests of the child», which at various stages has been correlated with the doctrines of «young age» and «equal protection of the laws». It is substantiated that the establishment of juvenile courts in the United States was based on the doctrine of «state parental care» and was intended to reduce child neglect and crime. The characteristic feature of the U.S. criminal law doctrine is the low age of tort capacity established to combat juvenile delinquency. Recognition of an assault against a minor as a qualifying feature in the dispositions of many criminal offenses indicates the enhanced nature of criminal law protection of his/her health and life. It is summarized that since 1874 (the establishment of The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, New York), there has been a transformation of the idea of the problem of physical punishment of children, and subsequently – a gradual reorientation from recognizing a child as a victim only in case of physical harm to recognizing him/her as a victim in case of psychological harm. When evaluating the prospects of borrowing some modern United States experience in Ukrainian legislation assessing the prospects of borrowing the modern legal experience of protecting children's rights in the United States into Ukrainian legislation, it is first of all necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the state and legal development of both countries, the characteristic features of the Ukrainian legal tradition, and the provisions of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. On the basis of the conducted research, we are inclined to believe that the improvement of the national mechanism for the protection of children's rights should be carried out through the prism of preventing child victimization, domestic violence, child abuse, and accidents. Conclusions and proposals aimed at further improving the legislation of Ukraine regarding the protection of children's rights have been sent to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.