Minors between the ages of 12 and 14 have the criminal responsibility to carry out hierarchical intervention and correction of unusual behavior.

Minors between the ages of 12 and 14 have the criminal responsibility to carry out hierarchical intervention and correction of unusual behavior.

Jinyang Author: 2020-12-27

On the 26th, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress voted to approve the Amendment to the Penal Law (11) and the recently revised Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Law.

The amendments to these two important laws include: adjusting the age of criminal responsibility, putting in place hierarchical intervention and correction of unusual behaviors, improving the specialized educational system, etc., responding to the problem of juvenile crimes of great concern for society and promote the breakdown of juvenile crimes. “Difficult to treat” problem.

Minors between the ages of 12 and 14 are no longer exempt from criminal responsibility for intentional homicide and other crimes

The criminal law prior to the amendment stipulates that minors under the age of 14 must not bear criminal responsibility. However, in recent years, serious violent crimes involving minors under 14 have occurred in many places, and requests for adjustments to the legal age of criminal responsibility have increased.

The Amendment to the Penal Law (11) approved this time stipulates that a person who has completed 12 years but has not yet been the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office will assume criminal responsibility if he approves the prosecution. This means that under the premise of “special circumstances and special procedures”, minors between 12 and 14 years old must also assume criminal responsibility.

Peng Xinlin, deputy secretary-general of the China Criminal Law Society, said that adjusting the age of criminal responsibility can severely punish socially harmful juveniles for vicious crimes and maintain social equity, justice and social stability. Not only does it respond to societal concerns, it also reflects the criminal justice system. politics.

Provide “special remedial education” to minors who are exempt from punishment.

For those children who do not receive criminal punishment because they have not reached the legal age of criminal responsibility, the recently revised Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Act stipulates that after evaluation and approval by the Special Education Steering Committee, the administration department of education, together with the public security organs, may decide to impart special remedial education to them. Closed-loop management is implemented in specialized correction and education venues. The public security bodies and the judicial administrative departments are in charge of the correction of minors and the administrative departments of education are in charge of the education of minors.

There are also some “problem kids” that parents can’t control and schools can’t handle. How can they be corrected?

In accordance with the recently revised Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Law, the State strengthens the construction of specialized schools and provides specialized education to minors who have committed serious misconduct.

Parents or other guardians and the school where they are located can apply to the administrative department of education, and after evaluation and approval by the special education steering committee, the administrative department of education decides to send them to a special school for special education.

“The best way to deal with minors who break the law is education, supplemented with the necessary punishment and correction, and then saving probation, rather than relying primarily on punishment,” said Guo Linmao, director of the Office of Social Law of the Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

Yao Jianlong, vice president of the China Society for the Prevention of Juvenile Crimes, said that the transition from a “work-study school” to a “specialized school” is a conceptual shift, highlighting the attributes of education and the characteristics of the schools. The recently revised law establishes a connecting channel between specialized schools and ordinary schools, helping to better carry out correctional education. “Ordinary schools should be more responsible and children cannot be sent to specialized schools if they make a mistake.”

Rating of the intervention to correct minor behaviors

It is better to prevent beforehand than to punish later. The recently revised Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Act divides unusual behavior of minors into misbehavior and serious misbehavior, and carries out hierarchical intervention and correction.

In the case of minors who smoke, drink, be absent repeatedly, absent without permission, etc., the law requires that the parents or other guardians of the minor must stop and strengthen the discipline immediately, and the public security organs and committees guardians should detain and urge guardians to fulfill guardianship obligations in accordance with the law. Schools must take educational and managerial measures, such as instruction for students who refuse to make corrections or whose circumstances are dire.

Serious misbehavior includes fighting, drug abuse, gambling, and other behaviors that seriously endanger society, as well as behaviors that violate the provisions of criminal law but are exempt from criminal penalties for being minors of legal age penal. For persons who instigate, coerce or induce minors to commit serious misbehavior, the law stipulates the duty of guardians, schools and village neighborhood committees to inform public security bodies. Public security bodies may take corrective and educational measures such as reprimands, ordering participation in social service activities, ordering the acceptance of social observation and nursing for minors with serious misconduct.

Yao Jianlong said that the recently revised Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Law more clearly defines the connotation and extent of “misconduct”, improves the concept of “gross misconduct”, and has a more scientific classification, further enhancing the improvement of Juvenile delinquency Prevention system.

(Xinhua News Agency)

Edit: quinn