No, children cannot be punished, tennagers only to some extend, until they are 18, from which they are in the laws regarded to be fully responsible of what they do.
@Morbo : There is currently a small scandal here in Germany going on : A group that was helping media publishing companies in finding out illegal downloads (and people who do this), have themselves put out movies illegally for download ... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> German-language article about that here :
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/68760 
