The Crime of Failure to Surrender a Child to the Person Entitled to Claim Custody Under Algerian Law

Abstract

The Algerian legislator addressed the offence of failure to surrender a child to the person legally entitled to claim custody under Article 327 of the Algerian Penal Code, separately from its second form provided for under Article 328 of the same Code. This approach reflects the necessity of ensuring criminal protection for the child under custody, with the aim of reinforcing the principle of safeguarding the child's best interests in general and ensuring compliance with legal and judicial decisions in particular.

Article 327 identifies the constituent elements of the offence, which may be summarized in three components: the preliminary condition, the material element, and the moral element. The preliminary condition relates to the persons involved in the offence, namely: the victim, who must be a child; the offender, who may be any person other than the parents to whom the child has been entrusted for care; and the injured party, consisting of any person legally entitled to claim the child. The material element consists of the refusal or failure to surrender the child, while the moral element is represented by the existence of criminal intent and the offender's deliberate will to commit the act.