Attitudes of countries around the world to the application of punishment to juvenile delinquency
In today's world, most countries have diluted the concept of applying punishment to juvenile delinquency and replaced it with non-penalty measures such as public security punishment and educational punishment. The purpose of criminal investigation of juvenile delinquency is to focus on educational reform. Article 18 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Juvenile Justice stipulates: "The competent authorities may take various measures to make them flexible, so as to avoid imprisonment to the maximum extent, and some measures may be combined.
These measures include care, guardianship and supervision of decisions; Probation; Community service award; Fines, compensation and compensation; Adjudication on intermediate treatment and other treatment; Decision on participating in group consultation and similar activities; Decisions on foster care, living quarters or other educational facilities; Other relevant rulings. Article 40 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child also stipulates: "Various treatment methods should be adopted, such as care, guidance and supervision orders, consultation, probation, foster care, education and vocational training programs and other methods that are not taken care of by institutions, so as to ensure that the treatment of children is in line with their well-being and commensurate with their situation and illegal behavior. "
Handling of Juvenile Delinquency in China
China has a lenient punishment attitude towards juvenile delinquency, and criminal measures will be taken only in some particularly serious cases.
Article 17 of the Criminal Law stipulates that a person who has reached the age of 16 shall bear criminal responsibility for committing a crime. A person who has reached the age of 14 but under the age of 16 commits the crime of intentional homicide, intentional injury, serious injury or death, rape, robbery, drug trafficking, arson, explosion and poisoning, and shall bear criminal responsibility. If a person who has reached the age of 14 and is under the age of 18 commits a crime, he shall be given a lighter or mitigated punishment. If they are not punished because they are under 16 years old, their parents or guardians shall be ordered to discipline them. When necessary, it can also be taken in by the government for reeducation.
China's Law on the Protection of Minors implements the policy of "education, probation and salvation" for juvenile offenders, which truly embodies the spirit of "protecting the growth of minors and maintaining social order" proposed in the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Juvenile Justice. Starting from compassion, based on education, probation and salvation, this paper explores the non-penalization way of juvenile offenders with less personal danger, that is, giving up punishment and lenient punishment. Non-penalization refers to explicitly exempting juvenile offenders from criminal responsibility.
Combined with China's actual social situation, the beneficial experience of juvenile protection and judicial practice, juvenile crimes without penalty include:
1. If the crime is minor, it may be exempted from criminal punishment in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law.
2. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law, a decision not to prosecute may be made.
3. For those who can apply the conditions of probation, they can be expanded to relatively non-prosecution, and non-penalty treatment methods can be applied.
Common non-penalty treatment methods include:
1. Family discipline. Teenagers take the road of breaking the law and committing crimes, which is closely related to parents' neglect of management and education. The judicial organs can order parents to strengthen control and education of juveniles and report to specialized agencies regularly, so as to urge juvenile offenders to repent and turn over a new leaf.
2. Work-study education. Work-study education is a special form of education to educate and save juvenile delinquents in China. It integrates two functions of control and correction, and is an effective way to correct problem teenagers.
3. Social assistance. The judicial organ may require the school, unit, street or township organization where the juvenile delinquent is located to be responsible for the daily assistance and education, and take effective measures to assist the specialized agencies in educating and rescuing the juvenile delinquent.
Schools and work units help and educate juvenile offenders mainly in schools and units; The work of helping and educating teenagers who drop out of school or are idle at home and among foreigners is mainly based on the streets or towns where they live.
4. Community service. For juvenile offenders who have not been punished by criminal punishment, they can be required to complete a certain amount of public welfare work in the place where they are instructed, so that they can get help and education in their work.
Our country adopts the combination of punishment and non-punishment measures in dealing with teenagers, mainly non-punishment measures, and adopts the principle of caution and leniency in punishment in order to save, educate and influence teenagers.