Questions are been asked by those in the law industry if different degrees of culpability for children who kill should be enforced.

That's what Dr Brenda Midson, from Waikato University's Faculty of Law, is proposing.

Other changes she is calling for include the introduction of first and second degree murder charges.

Midson told Tim Dower brain development research indicates teenagers are not as capable of reasoning in the same way as adults are.

“When defendants between the ages of 10 and 14 kill, they often don't intend to. It's rather a failure to appreciate the consequences of their actions.”

LISTEN ABOVE AS BRENDA MIDSON SPEAKS TO TIM DOWER