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Legislature to review change to age of criminal responsibility

By CAO YIN | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2020-10-12 18:21
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China is expected to lower the age of criminal responsibility in some special situations according to special procedures to better fight juvenile crimes and rehabilitate offenders, an official of the country's top legislature said on Monday.

Following the "education first, punishment second" principle in handling juvenile offenses, "we should neither simply fight crimes by younger offenders through prison terms nor with indulgence," said Zang Tiewei, spokesman for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

He made the remark when outlining the agenda of the bimonthly session of the NPC Standing Committee, which will open Tuesday, at a news conference on Monday.

He said a revision related to the age of criminal responsibility has been added to a draft amendment to the Criminal Law that will be submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for a second review.

Under the current law, the age of criminal responsibility is 16. Children ages 14 to 16 can be held criminally liable if they commit violent crimes, including intentional homicide, rape, robbery or arson. Minors within that age bracket who commit less serious offenses are rarely prosecuted.

The law says offenders age 14 and younger are exempt from criminal punishment, even if they commit serious crimes.

Besides the age revision, Zang said the draft also includes improvements aimed at combating the rape of young women and indecent dealings with children.

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