Children in China face tough new penalties for violent criminal offences
- A revised draft amendment to China’s Criminal Law will be reviewed this week aimed at deterring and reducing rising rates of serious juvenile crime
- Children as young as eight are committing violent crimes, a criminal law expert says
As China prepares to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12, it is also proposing to toughen powers to prosecute children who leave their victims seriously injured.
In a draft amendment, China’s top legislative body, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, proposed that the scope of crimes for which minors can be prosecuted be expanded.
Previously, a draft sent to the standing committee’s October session recommended that a juvenile who committed “intentional homicide or inflicts an injury that leads to death under flagrant circumstances” could be held criminally responsible.
But Yue Zhongming, spokesman for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said on Monday there were calls for minors to also face criminal charges if they “cause severe injuries with extremely brutal means which lead to serious disabilities”.
The committee is meeting this week in Beijing to review a revised draft amendment to the Criminal Law, and a draft revision to the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, both of which are aimed at deterring and reducing the rates of juvenile crime.
