China to improve juvenile delinquency correction

BEIJING - China has been working on measures to improve the correctional education of minors involved in crime, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

The country is planning more diverse forms of correction, including education, assistance and mandatory correction, and will apply them to juvenile delinquents depending on the severity of their crimes, said Shi Weizhong, an SPP senior prosecutor.

He said the multi-level system of correctional education would deal with China's lack of efficient interventions on juveniles engaging in severe delinquent behavior and those committing crimes under the criminal age of responsibility, which is 16 for most crimes and 14 for grave crimes such as murder and arson.

China plans to revise the Law on the Protection of Minors in 2019, and a draft revision to the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency will also be produced this year.

Revising the laws will be an opportunity to upgrade the multi-level correctional education system, Shi said.