Supreme People's Court Supreme People's Procuratorate Ministry of Public Security Ministry of Justice
Measures for the Implementation of the Sealing up of Juvenile Criminal Records
press release
In order to strictly implement the juvenile criminal record sealing system stipulated in Article 286 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, and the newly revised Juvenile Protection Law Article 103 and the Juvenile Crime Prevention Law Article 59 concerning the privacy of minors and information protection regulations, and effectively solve the problems of information leakage caused by improper management of juvenile criminal records and related records in practice, affecting the reintegration of stray minors into society, etc. Recently, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice will meet The "Implementation Measures for the Sealing up of Juvenile Criminal Records" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Measures") were signed and issued.
The relevant information is hereby notified as follows:
1. The necessity of formulating the "Implementation Measures"
The Criminal Procedure Law revised in 2012 added provisions for the sealing system of juvenile criminal records. However, due to the relatively principled regulations, in practice, the subject of sealing, the specific content and procedures of sealing, and the subject, content, and procedures of inquiry are inconsistent. As a result, problems such as storage management anomaly and disordered supervision by relevant departments have occurred in the implementation of the system.
For example, some companies illegally provide, sell, and use juvenile criminal records, resulting in the disclosure of juvenile criminal records.
In recent years, deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference have repeatedly put forward suggestions and proposals to improve the juvenile criminal record sealing system.
To this end, in June 2021, we conducted a special survey on the implementation of this system.
Through investigation, it is found that in most provinces, there are cases where the criminal records of juveniles should be unsealed or the information leaked due to illegal inquiries. Adults have no choice but to take the path of petitioning and rights protection because they cannot work and live normally.
According to the statistics of judicial organs, from April 2017 to April 2022, 80,855 juveniles were not prosecuted for crimes and 157,962 were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of less than five years, a total of 238,817 people. The loss of records makes it difficult to find employment and school, and may once again slip into the abyss of crime, which will make all efforts to educate, reform, and rescue cases zero, and affect the process of modernization of social governance.
In view of the problems existing in practice, in order to unify and refine relevant legal provisions at the national level, further unify understanding, standardize work procedures, promote the coordination and cooperation between public security, procuratorial, legal, and departmental departments, and form a joint force to ensure that minors involved in the case are involved. After repeated discussions and studies, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, together with the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice, jointly formulated the "Implementation Measures".
2. The main contents of the "Implementation Measures"
The full text of the "Implementation Measures" has a total of 26 articles, covering the definition and scope of juvenile criminal records, the circumstances of sealing, the subject and procedure of sealing, the subject of inquiry and application conditions, the subject and procedure of providing inquiry services, the conditions and consequences of unsealing, and confidentiality. Obligations and related responsibilities, etc., basically solve the main problems encountered in the current juvenile criminal record sealing.
Specifically:
(1) Strive to be comprehensive in the contents of the seal.
That is, materials involving juvenile cases "should be sealed."
First, the materials in the proceedings of juvenile criminal cases shall be encrypted and kept and shall not be disclosed until the conclusion of the proceedings; if the people's court makes a judgment in accordance with the law, and is sentenced to a penalty of fixed-term imprisonment of less than five years and is exempted from criminal punishment, the relevant departments shall take the initiative to take action against them. The juvenile-related criminal records in their possession shall be sealed.
For joint criminal cases, the cover of the adult dossier that has not been sealed after division shall be marked with "contains criminal record sealed information", and necessary confidentiality measures shall be taken for the relevant information.
The second is the record of not giving criminal punishment, investigating criminal responsibility, not prosecuting, and taking criminal compulsory measures for minors; the records of social investigation, help and education inspection, psychological counseling, judicial assistance and other work for minors involved in crimes should also be recorded. legally sealed.
Third, for cases involving minor victims, civil, administrative, and public interest litigation cases involving minors, care should also be taken to keep the information of minors confidential.
Fourth, the cases concluded before December 31, 2012 should also be sealed if they meet the conditions for sealing up criminal records or relevant records.
(2) The sealing measures shall be effective.
First, for all case materials, the relevant provisions of the Personal Information Protection Law should be implemented, encrypted and processed, and a strict custody system should be implemented.
In addition to the substantial sealing of paper dossiers and archival materials, it is particularly emphasized that electronic data should also be simultaneously sealed, encrypted, and managed separately, and strict query permissions should be set.
Second, it is stipulated that the sealed case materials shall not be provided to any platform or authorized to connect with relevant platforms, and network platforms shall not be authorized to directly inquire about juvenile crime information through the Internet.
Third, the staff of judicial organs are obliged to inform those who know the information about the minors involved in the relevant minors’ privacy and information protection in the litigation link they are responsible for, and stipulate the legal responsibility for not fulfilling this obligation.
Fourth, after the juvenile criminal record has been sealed, it cannot be unsealed unless it is due to legal circumstances. However, if the juvenile whose criminal record has been sealed, commits a crime intentionally after reaching adulthood, the people's court shall state the previous criminal record in the judgment document. .
(3) The inquiry procedure shall be strict.
The first is to further clarify the subject of the query.
In accordance with the law, the subject of inquiries by units is strictly restricted, and if there are no state regulations, relevant units should not be allowed to inquire about juvenile criminal records.
Personal inquiries about their criminal records can be accepted upon application.
The second is to strictly inquire into procedures, and make it clear that records of minors' crimes shall not be provided to any unit or individual without legal reasons and legal procedures.
Regarding the application of relevant units and individuals to inquire about juvenile criminal records, carefully review the reasons, basis and purpose of the application, strictly check, and reply in a timely manner.
The third is to clarify the form of the certification.
That is, for those who do have criminal records that should be sealed after inquiries, they should issue a "Certificate of No Criminal Record" in a uniform format, which is the same as those who have no criminal record at all, and attach a uniform format.
Fourth, for permission to inquire, the inquiring unit and relevant personnel shall be informed to use the relevant information in strict accordance with the inquiry purpose and scope of use, strictly abide by the obligation of confidentiality, and those who do not use the inquired records in accordance with regulations or disclose relevant information in violation of regulations shall be investigated according to law. Legal liability of responsible persons.
The fifth is to standardize the query export.
For the convenience of work, the "Implementation Measures" maintains the current practice that the public security organs, procuratorial organs, judicial organs, and judicial administrative organs provide criminal record inquiry services according to their respective functions and powers.
(4) Strive for accountability.
The first is to clarify the legal responsibility for the improper leakage of information.
Article 20 stipulates that public officials responsible for the sealing of criminal records and the protection of juveniles' privacy and information shall be punished if they improperly disclose juveniles' criminal records or privacy and information; serious consequences will be caused, causing heavy losses to the state and individuals Or if it has a bad influence, the relevant criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.
The second is to clarify the procuratorial supervision power of the people's procuratorate over the sealing of criminal records.
It is stipulated that the procuratorial organs should incorporate the entire process of juvenile criminal record sealing and privacy and information protection into the scope of procuratorial supervision, and relevant departments should review and give feedback in a timely manner after receiving corrections.
3. Departments work together to promote the implementation of the juvenile criminal record sealing system
"It is not enough to do it alone." In the next step, we will take the "Implementation Measures" as the starting point to strengthen the linkage and cooperation between departments, and jointly implement the system.
First, continue to strengthen publicity.
Encourage relevant departments and individuals to abandon traditional retributionism, adhere to the principle of what is most beneficial to minors, promote the whole society to understand and support the implementation of the system, and ensure the smooth return of minors who have committed minor crimes to society.
The second is to organize relevant training.
Effectively enhance the sense of mission, responsibility and consciousness of the relevant responsible departments and personnel for the sealing of juvenile criminal records, and fully grasp and correctly implement this system.
The third is to strengthen further research on the juvenile criminal record sealing system.
Conduct in-depth research and demonstration on controversial issues and cutting-edge issues concerning the sealing of juvenile criminal records, scientifically summarize the experience in judicial practice and new situations and new problems in work, respond to social concerns in a timely manner, and revise and improve the "Implementation Measures" in a timely manner , to maximize the value of the juvenile criminal record sealing system.
The healthy growth of minors is related to the future of the country and the nation.
We will take the implementation of the Law on the Protection of Minors and the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency as the starting point, further strengthen and improve the judicial protection of juveniles, strictly implement the responsibilities of all departments, and strive to implement the juvenile criminal record sealing system. Maximize education to save every child who makes a mistake, effectively protect the legal rights and interests of minors such as privacy, education, and employment rights, and better help wrongful minors to be treated equally and return to society smoothly.
Notice of the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Justice on Issuing the "Implementation Measures for the Sealing up of Juvenile Criminal Records"
The higher people's courts, people's procuratorates, public security departments (bureaus), and judicial departments (bureaus) of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Military Court of the People's Liberation Army, the Military Procuratorate of the People's Liberation Army, the Production and Construction Corps Branch of the Higher People's Court of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the People's Procuratorate of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Public Security Bureau and Justice Bureau:
In order to fully implement Xi Jinping's thought on the rule of law and further standardize the sealing of juvenile criminal records, in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant regulations, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice jointly formulated the "Regulations on Juveniles". "Implementation Measures for the Sealing up of Human Criminal Records" is hereby issued to you, please implement it conscientiously.
Supreme People's Court Supreme People's Procuratorate
Ministry of Public Security Ministry of Justice
May 24, 2022
Supreme People's Court Supreme People's Procuratorate Ministry of Public Security Ministry of Justice
Measures for the Implementation of the Sealing up of Juvenile Criminal Records
Article 1 In order to implement the policy of educating, reforming, and saving juveniles who violate the law, strengthen special and priority protection for juveniles, and adhere to the principle of what is most beneficial to juveniles, according to the Criminal Law, the Criminal Procedure Law, and the protection of juveniles These Measures are formulated in accordance with relevant legal provisions such as the Law, the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, and in light of the actual judicial work.
Article 2 The "juvenile criminal record" as mentioned in these Measures refers to the objective record of the juvenile criminal by the special state organs.
Juvenile criminal records that should be sealed, including all case file materials and electronic file information about juvenile crimes or suspected crimes formed in the process of investigation, prosecution, trial, and criminal execution.
Article 3 The records of not giving criminal punishment, not being investigated for criminal responsibility, not prosecuting, and taking criminal compulsory measures, as well as the records of social investigation, help and education inspection, psychological counseling, judicial assistance, etc. for minors involved in crimes, shall be governed by these Measures. The specified contents and procedures shall be sealed.
Article 4 The criminal records of juveniles who were under the age of 18 at the time of committing a crime, were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, and were exempted from criminal punishment, shall be sealed up in accordance with the law.
For committing several acts before and after reaching the age of 18, which constitutes one crime or several crimes that are dealt with together, if the main criminal act is committed before reaching the age of 18, the person shall be sentenced or decided to be sentenced to a penalty of not more than five years in prison. As well as juvenile criminal records exempt from criminal punishment, the entire case shall be sealed up in accordance with the law.
Article 5 For cases of joint crime between minors and adults handled in separate cases, while the materials and information of the minor's case file are sealed, the cover of the unsealed adult file shall be marked with "contains criminal record sealing information" and other obvious signs. , and take necessary confidentiality measures for relevant information.
For cases of joint crime between minors and adults that are not handled separately, obvious signs such as "contains criminal record sealing information" shall be marked on the cover of the entire case file, and necessary confidentiality measures shall be taken for the relevant information.
Article 6 In other criminal, civil, administrative and public interest litigation cases, if the sealed juvenile criminal record information is used for handling the case, the cover of the relevant dossier shall be marked with "contains criminal record sealed information", and necessary measures shall be taken for the relevant information. Confidentiality measures.
Article 7: In a case where a minor is acquitted due to unclear facts and insufficient evidence, the record of the crime shall be sealed up; however, where the minor defendant and his legally-designated representative apply for not to seal up or to lift the seal, the people's court shall If you agree, it may not be sealed or unsealed.
Article 8 When making a decision on the handling of a case, the organ that decides on the sealing of criminal records shall explain the juvenile criminal record sealing system to the defendant or criminal suspect and their legal representatives or close relatives at the same time, and inform them of their relevant rights and obligations.
Article 9 The sealing up of juvenile criminal records shall follow the principle of timeliness and effectiveness.
For minors whose criminal records are sealed, they are exempted from the obligation to report their criminal records when enlisting in the army or working.
When minors with sealed criminal records are investigated by judicial organs for suspected re-offending, they should take the initiative and truthfully confess their criminal records, and may not evade or conceal.
Article 10 The criminal records of juveniles that need to be sealed shall not be disclosed in accordance with the "Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China", and a special archives of juvenile crimes shall be established, and a strict custody system shall be implemented.
For the juvenile criminal record data that needs to be sealed in the electronic information system, a sealing mark shall be added, and information inquiry, sharing and reuse shall not be carried out without statutory inquiry procedures.
The archived juvenile criminal record data shall not be provided or connected to external platforms.
Article 11 Where a people's court sentenced a defendant who was under the age of eighteen at the time of the crime to a penalty of not more than five years in prison and was exempted from criminal punishment, after the judgment takes effect, it shall promptly send the criminal judgment and the "Criminal Record Sealing Notice". After receiving the above documents, the people's procuratorate and public security organ at the same level shall coordinate the relevant procuratorial organs and public security organs at all levels to record the criminal records of the minors involved in the case within three days. Overall preservation.
Article 12 After the people's procuratorate decides not to prosecute a criminal suspect who was under the age of 18 at the time of the crime according to law, it shall promptly serve the Non-Prosecution Decision and the Criminal Record Sealing Notice to the person not to be prosecuted, along with the After reaching the public security organ at the same level, the public security organ at the same level shall seal up the criminal records of the minors involved within three days after receiving the above documents.
Article 13 For juvenile criminals sentenced to public surveillance, probation, parole or temporary execution outside prison, community corrections shall be implemented in accordance with the law, and the community corrections institution where the execution is carried out shall record the crimes of the juveniles involved within three days after the completion of the criminal execution. Archive.
Article 14 Public security organs, people's procuratorates, people's courts and judicial administrative organs are respectively responsible for accepting, reviewing and handling the sealing and inquiry of relevant criminal records within their respective functions and powers.
Article 15 Where a minor whose criminal record has been sealed up or his legally-designated representative applies to issue a certificate of no criminal record for him, the acceptance unit shall issue a certificate of no criminal record within three working days.
Article 16 Where judicial organs inquire about criminal records for case handling needs or relevant units in accordance with state regulations, they shall submit a written application to the judicial organs that have sealed the criminal records, specifying the reasons, basis and scope of use for the inquiry. identity documents, etc.
If it meets the query conditions after review, the acceptance unit shall issue a certificate of no criminal record within three working days.
If inquiries are permitted, after inquiries, the archives management department shall register the relevant inquiries, and in accordance with archives management regulations, deposit relevant applications, approval materials, confidentiality commitments, etc.
If the inquiry is not permitted according to law, it shall issue a decision not to permit inquiry to the inquiring unit within three working days, and explain the reasons.
For judicial organs that need to apply for inquiries in order to handle cases and carry out re-crime prevention work, the sealing organs may allow them to access, extract, and copy relevant case file materials and electronic information in accordance with the law.
For units other than judicial organs that apply for inquiries in accordance with state regulations, they may inform the inquired whether they have been subject to criminal punishment, the crime sentenced, the sentence and other information according to the purpose, purpose and actual needs of the inquiry, and if necessary, provide copies of relevant legal documents. pieces.
Article 17 For permission to inquire about the sealed juvenile criminal records, the unit and relevant personnel who inquire about the criminal records shall be informed to use the relevant information in strict accordance with the inquiry purpose and scope of use, strictly abide by the confidentiality obligations, and require them to sign a confidentiality undertaking .
If the criminal records inquired are not used in accordance with the regulations or the relevant information is leaked in violation of the regulations, and the circumstances are serious or serious consequences are caused, the relevant personnel shall be held accountable in accordance with the law.
Judicial organs, education administrative departments, schools, communities, and other units and organizations where the minors live, as well as their staff, litigation participants, social investigators, suitable adults, etc., who learn of the information sealed by minors due to work reasons, should do a good job of keeping confidentiality , shall not disclose the sealed criminal records, and shall not disclose to the outside world the name, address, photo, and other information that may infer the identity of the minor.
Units or individuals that disclose sealed information in violation of the law shall be investigated for legal responsibility according to law.
Article 18 For minors whose criminal records have been sealed up, if one of the following conditions is met, the sealing organ shall release the sealing of their criminal records:
(1) committing a new crime when he was a minor, and after the new crime and the several crimes for which the records were sealed are jointly punished, the execution of the sentence exceeds five years of fixed-term imprisonment;
(2) Where the crime of omission committed when he was a minor was discovered, and the punishment for the crime of omission and the crime of sealing the records was combined and sentenced to a sentence of more than five years in prison;
(3) The sentence of fixed-term imprisonment of five years or more is commuted after the trial supervision procedure;
Where a minor whose criminal record has been sealed up intentionally commits a crime after becoming an adult, the people's court shall state his previous criminal record in the judgment document.
Article 19 Cases that meet the conditions for unsealing, from the date when the conditions for unsealing are established, are no longer restricted by the relevant provisions on the sealing of juvenile criminal records.
Article 20 Public officials who undertake the work of sealing criminal records and protecting the privacy and information of minors shall be punished if they improperly disclose the criminal records or privacy or information of minors; serious consequences are caused, causing heavy losses to the state or individuals or Those with bad influence shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law.
Article 21 If the information of the minors involved in the case that should be sealed is improperly disclosed, resulting in the minors not receiving the same treatment in terms of schooling, employment, and living security, the minors and their legal representatives may report to the relevant organs and units File an application for sealing up, or apply to the people's procuratorate for supervision.
Article 22 The people's procuratorate shall exercise legal supervision over the sealing and preservation of criminal records.
Where criminal records should be sealed but not sealed, or sealed improperly, or minors and their legally-designated representatives raise objections, the people's procuratorate shall conduct a review, and if there are indeed errors, they shall promptly notify relevant units to make corrections.
Relevant units shall promptly review and deal with it after receiving the people's procuratorate's corrective opinion.
If the review is correct, the reasons shall be explained to the people's procuratorate; if there is a real error after review, it shall be corrected in a timely manner, and the corrective measures and results shall be notified to the people's procuratorate.
Article 23 If the cases concluded before December 31, 2012 meet the conditions for sealing up criminal records, they shall be sealed up in accordance with the provisions of these Measures.
Article 24 The term "fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years" as mentioned in these Measures includes this number.
Article 25 The Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice are jointly responsible for the interpretation of these Measures.
Article 26 These Measures shall come into force on May 30, 2022.