In recent years, the vicious criminal incidents of young juveniles from time to time have hit the public's nerves to
curb the "touching the law" of young juveniles.
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In recent years, the emergence of vicious cases of young juveniles has led to a discussion on whether to reduce the age of criminal responsibility. There is a view that with the maturity of the minors' current mentality, the age of criminal responsibility can be lowered; there is also a view that the punishment cannot be over-relied on, and whether "age reduction" still needs to be carefully studied.
At the end of 2018, a sixth-grade boy in Yuanjiang, Hunan, had a quarrel with his mother because of his strict discipline. The boy stabbed his mother to death with a knife. In October last year, Dalian’s 13-year-old boy Cai Moumou killed a 10-year-old girl because of Cai If XX is under 14 years old, he will not be held criminally responsible. In recent years, cases of crimes involving young minors have hit the public nerves.
Should the age of criminal responsibility be lowered? What is the problem behind the juvenile delinquency? How to balance the protection and punishment of minors? In the "June 1" International Children's Day just passed, these topics once again caused widespread concern in society.
Should the age of criminal responsibility be lowered?
According to my country's criminal law, minors under 14 years of age do not need to bear any criminal responsibility. In several vicious crimes of minors disclosed by the media, the persons involved were also exempted from criminal liability because they did not reach the legal age.
At the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress this year, some NPC deputies made suggestions to lower the age of criminal responsibility for minors. According to this view, today, the psychological development of minors is generally precocious. Lowering the age of criminal responsibility not only conforms to the current social development process, but also acts as a legal warning and deterrent to minors, helping them to establish a sense of law-abiding and resisting illegal crimes.
According to Li Fenfei, a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Law of Renmin University of China, the few cases of juvenile vicious crimes currently exposed are extreme cases, and it is necessary to carefully study whether to lower the age of criminal responsibility.
"Once sentenced, the minor is cut off from the outside world, and the interruption of study may have a greater impact on it, and it may be more difficult to return to society in the future. If an antisocial personality is formed, the possibility of committing a crime later is also greater." Li Fenfei accepted "Worker Daily" reporter said in an interview, "You can't rely too much on punishment, and you can't use the criminal law to solve problems whenever they arise."
Zheng Ziyin, director of the Juvenile Law Professional Committee of the Guangdong Bar Association, also holds the same view. "If this time we saw that the minor minor was 13 years old, we should adjust the age of criminal responsibility to 13 years old. If the next time we see 10 years old, will it be reduced to 10 years old? Which age is right?" Zheng Ziyin questioned.
Zheng Ziyin believes that the causes of juvenile delinquency are very complicated, and the causes must be analyzed from the source to solve. "If you just blindly reduce the age of criminal responsibility, this may become a shame for the cause of juvenile delinquency."
"After the occurrence of a case, the law should investigate and fill in the vacancies and find ways and regulations to deal with the case, rather than modify the general age system of criminal responsibility for most people." Yuan Ningning, associate professor at the School of Law of China University of Political Science and Law, told the Workers Daily The reporter, "After the minors commit crimes, protecting the victims is not just paying attention to how to severely punish the criminal suspects and defendants, but should focus on repairing the trauma caused by the criminal behavior."
Second, which part of the chain is the problem?
Tong Xiaojun, director of the Juvenile and Child Research Center of the School of Political Science and Law, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, has been paying attention to the social work of youth affairs for many years. In her investigation, she found that except for criminal cases caused by mental and physical morbidity, crimes involving minors are basically external causes, which mainly come from family environment and peer influence.
According to a report released by the China Judicial Big Data Research Institute, between 2016 and 2017, among the juvenile criminal cases concluded by courts nationwide, minors from mobile families were the most, followed by divorced, left-behind, single-parent and remarried families.
"There are still some vicious cases in which some children have suffered severe school bullying and have taken extreme measures to resist. However, in the case of imperfect systems for school bullying, it is not acceptable for children to bear the criminal consequences themselves. Fair." Tong Xiaojun said.
Zheng Ziyin handled a case that impressed him. A boy had multiple cases of homicide before the age of 14 years. After reaching the age of 14, he tried to kill a 6-year-old girl again and was sentenced to 6 years. Less than two months after the boy was released from prison, rape and murder occurred again.
"After this child was 5 years old, his mother had been working outside, and his father didn't care about him. He dropped out of school in the third grade of elementary school." Zheng Ziyin said, "The family doesn't care, the relevant departments don't care when they drop out of school, including one after another Grasping, there was no regulatory intervention and behavioral correction in the whole process, which eventually led to tragedy and distressed."
"For juvenile crime, compared to lowering the age of criminal responsibility, we must consider the causes of crime from a social governance perspective, form synergy in crime prevention, and avoid overreactions due to extreme cases." Li Fenfei said.
Three questions: How to be tolerant and not tolerant?
During the interview, several experts told reporters that under 14 years of age not to bear criminal responsibility does not mean that there is no consequence, and it does not mean "one releases" and "one penalty."
"Combine the provisions of China's Criminal Law, Law on the Prevention of Minor Crimes, and Law on Public Security Administration Punishment. For younger minors who violate the criminal law, according to the severity of the behavior, four types of measures can be taken: parents are ordered to discipline, admonish, and send to work school , Shelter and education." Yuan Ningning introduced.
However, Yuan Ningning also pointed out that "due to the lack of specific operational regulations, the effectiveness of these measures in practice is not satisfactory."
Yuan Ningning believes that there are still gaps in the law regarding whether young parents have the ability to discipline, how to manage, and who will be responsible for supervising parental discipline. With the abolition of the reeducation through labor system in 2013, there is no place for the implementation of measures for internment and rehabilitation. In addition, how the internship and rehabilitation are applied and what the nature is is not clear.
"The most urgent task is to establish a comprehensive juvenile justice system based on China's national conditions, legal system and judicial system." Yuan Ningning said, "This system includes a grading treatment system for culpable minors and a comprehensive combination of minor victims. Protection system."
On June 1, the White Paper on Procuratorial Work for Minors (2014-2019) issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate pointed out that it should explore the intervention and correction mechanism for minors involved in crimes under the age of criminal responsibility. The Supreme People's Procuratorate's Procuratorial Reform Work Plan 201-2022 clearly stated, "Explore the establishment of a grading treatment system for culpable minors, including critical prevention, protection, and family education."
The reporter learned that the procuratorates in Chengdu, Shanghai and other places have explored the establishment of a mandatory parental education system. The guardian in dereliction of duty shall be compelled by the judicial organ to receive a certain period of education on the performance of guardianship obligations and the skills of raising children.
"For extreme cases, a comprehensive assessment of the personality of juvenile offenders should be carried out, focusing on the contradiction between juvenile physical maturity and cognitive level, and establishing the responsibility of family guardianship and national guardianship." Li Fenfei said.
From the perspective of Tong Xiaojun, the difference between juvenile delinquency and adult crime is that juvenile delinquency is preventable and correctable, and a juvenile justice system that includes behavior correction services needs to be established.
"Since the external environment of nurturing and growth is the main reason why most minors embark on the path of illegal and criminal crimes, then, if you give him a good external environment, you can completely save it back and let it return to normal." Tong Xiaojun said.
Lu Yue