Law should hold juveniles accountable

A BOY ROBBED A GIRL and injured her with a pair of scissors in Xiaogan, Central China's Hubei province, on March 30. But since the boy was not yet 14 years old at the time, the local police refused to handle the case as a criminal one. Beijing News comments:

According to Criminal Law, people aged 16 or above have criminal liability, while youths aged 14 or 15 have criminal liability only for eight kinds of serious violent crimes. Thus according to the law it is right that the Xiaogan police are not pursuing the case.

Although the Criminal Law exempts criminal liability of the people under 16 years old, it suggests they be sheltered and rehabilitated by the government. However, in practice this is rarely carried out for youngsters under the age of 14 because of the lack of detailed rules.