Revisions to clarify treatment of young offenders

New clauses

As people were debating juvenile crime in the wake of The Bad Kids, the draft revision to the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency was submitted to the Standing Committee of the NPC for a second reading.

Generally, a draft becomes law after three readings by members of the committee.

The latest version of the draft adds new clauses to allow public security departments to send offenders younger than the age of criminal responsibility to reform schools. Crucially, though, it also requires governments above county level to establish special educational committees to guide the work of reform schools.

The move gives the committees the right to decide whether young offenders should be placed in such institutions, taking the onus away from public security departments.

Minors who engage in misconduct, such as gambling and gang fights, will receive corrective programs and education in reform schools. In light of that, the draft stipulates that they should be separated from juveniles who have committed serious crimes such as intentional homicide or rape.

To ensure stricter management of minor offenders, judicial authorities and public security bodies will be required to offer them assistance, the draft said, without specifying the nature of that help.

Ongoing concerns

Unlike the teenager detained in Dalian, the boy who killed his mother in Hunan has been placed under the joint guardianship of his family, public security authorities and an educational institution.

Yuan, the legal researcher, praised the plan to widen the scope of reform schools, saying it will unify the rehabilitation of offenders younger than the age of criminal responsibility.

However, he said he was still concerned about whether the special committees, drawn from government, judicial organs and educational agencies, would have enough time to evaluate cases "as each member has their own job", meaning they will have limited time to meet.

"At the same time, I think there may be a problem as to whether the members can provide professional evaluations, because not all the administrators will have sufficient knowledge of child psychology," he said.

Tong called on the NPC Standing Committee to make the draft revision more specific to ensure that juveniles involved in less serious offenses are separated from those who have committed serious or violent crimes.

"If the two groups are rehabilitated together in reform schools, they will be influenced by each other," he said.

He added that clarification is also needed to establish what sort of management measures can be defined as "strict", along with the role of public security departments in reform school rehabilitation programs "or they will be hard to implement in practice".

In his opinion, minors who commit serious crimes should be subject to restrictions on their freedom to ensure they can be better rehabilitated.

"However, that would require the courts to make the decision, instead of the public security authorities," he said.

While authorities wait for the implementation of the measures outlined in the draft revision, Tong suggested that the NPC Standing Committee should establish two different systems.

One would deal with the reeducation and correction of serious offenders under the age of criminal responsibility, while the other would focus on children who engage in misconduct such as gang fights and gambling.

"(That way) educational administrators would focus on the reeducation of minors with serious behavioral problems, while the judicial authorities would be responsible for the rehabilitation of offenders below the age of criminal responsibility," he said.