The ultimate Public Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Public safety issued a common regulation on 31 July setting out the criteria for the approval of criminal prosecution of persons aged 12-14 for the most serious violent offences. The paper is simply a consequence to the increasing scale of specified events in fresh years.
The Regulation, covering 15 articles, supplements the amendment of the Criminal Code (Amendment XI) in force since March 2021, which has conditionally reduced the age of criminal liability to 12 years.
In accordance with these provisions, persons aged 12 to 14 may be liable for intentional execution or intentional bodily injury resulting in death or permanent, serious disability if the circumstances of the act are peculiarly gross and the ultimate People's Prosecutor's Office agrees to prosecute.
The precedent application of these regulations took place in 2024 in a loud execution and concealment case by peers in Handan.
The fresh government settles a key explanation dispute — whether the concept of “intentional execution or intentional injury” refers to legal qualification or to the act itself. The paper clearly points to action, eliminating the hazard of liability being avoided as a consequence of qualification disputes.
In addition, the Regulation introduces an work to verify the age of the offender, to measure the appropriateness of preventive measures, to analyse the household environment, personality characteristics and motivation of the minor. The D.A. besides needs to interview the fishy personally.
Experts stress that age does not constitute immunity from criminal liability. And this regulation fills an acute enforcement gap and aims to harmonise law enforcement practice across the country.
Source:
Author: 梁安基 Andrzej Z. Liang, 上海 Shanghai, 中国 China
Email: [email protected]
Editorial: Leszek B.
