rise in young offenders

Worrying evidence of rising juvenile crime and the pervasive influence of the internet on minors is exposed in a White Paper published by the SPP (Supreme People's Court) on Children's Day, 1 June 2022. 

Appearing amidst claims that childhood in the PRC is far better than elsewhere, not least in the US, the White Paper shows that despite laws to protect minors promulgated or taking effect in 2021, the PRC situation remains grim. Addressing systemic neglect of the vulnerable, the extended 'child protections' specify how state protection kicks in where other guardianship has failed. It also reinforces mitigation of internet impacts. 

Theft remains the most common crime for young offenders, accounting for some 25 percent. While affray decreased, the share of rape and robbery rose in 2021. The impact of the internet on minors was also reflected in the data, with the number of minors suspected of helping information/network crimes rising sixfold year on year (with 911 prosecutions in 2021, the total is not significant yet).

An SPP report on juvenile justice will be reviewed by the NPC (National People's Congress) standing committee in October 2022. With the legal system focusing—for the first time in 30 years—on how juveniles fare under and after prosecution, results of the review should shape the area for years to come.

mitigating moral panic

Some 74,000 young suspects were reviewed for prosecution in 2021, leaping some 35 percent y-o-y. More professional staff and social support for offenders as well as reform in the running of trials, were promised in 2021. 

The SPP decided on 30 May 2022 that criminal convictions of young offenders sentenced for up to five years should not be permanently on their record. This would avoid stigmatising them and allow them to reintegrate better. 

Tian Yunhui 田云惠, a Beijing prosecutor, pointed out that closing juvenile criminal records would mitigate 'criminal' labelling of young offenders, avoiding stigmatising them in later life. This approach is aligned with the UN 'Standard Minimum Rules for Administration of Juvenile Justice'. 

Other jurists fret that over-protection may further indulge young offenders. Zang Dongbin 臧冬斌 Henan University of Economics and Law School of Criminal Justice calls for provisionally closing young offenders’ records. Making five years the standard is, he argues, at odds with a criminal law norm under which offences with a sentence of fewer than three years are deemed mere ‘misdemeanours’ (those with more than this qualify as serious ‘crimes’).

Wang Mingqiang 王明强, a grassroots judge, suggests considering the circumstances of the crime and the defendant’s attitude when making decisions on closing criminal records. 

taking on the parents

The judiciary is following the state in supporting children’s development; it is ever more aware that the judicial system must address broader and deeper social issues that are often complicit in the offences committed by the young. External factors, such as family dysfunction or the lure of the online world, may lead minors astray, exposing them to victimisation.

In civil and administrative and criminal cases, procuratorates are strengthening oversight of child custody. Lawsuits gaining procuratorate support to revoke child custody on the grounds of guardian abuse rose by 50 percent in 2021—procuratorial orders to fulfil child custody obligations more than tripled y-o-y.

New measures, for example, one dealing with guardianship when parents are irresponsible, and one on enforcing child support after divorce, are expected to be confirmed by law. The legal system is moving toward safeguarding children's rights to education. Not only criminal behaviour is affected by the increase in dysfunctional families and other stresses on teenagers—the youth suicide rate is also rising. 

root of the problem

Safeguarding minors has a long way to go. The SPP’s hearing before the NPC this October attempts to stave off further spinning-down of bureaucratic attention. General Secretary Xi told the Sixth Plenum of the Party‘s 19th Central Committee that children are vital to the PRC’s second centenary goal, building China into a ‘great modern socialist country’. 

But to some, seeing them in this instrumental way seems to be the essence of the problem. While new measures support young offenders in legal terms, the need seems greater to target the social roots of the problem in urban and rural poverty. 

Poorly educated migrant children are at risk of committing crimes. Hollowing out the countryside, massive rural-urban migration has created a generation of ‘left-behind’, neglected children. At the county level, equal access to education is stymied by burgeoning private schools beyond the reach of low-income rural families. Youth failing to thrive academically do little better acquiring skills, as vocational schools are also weak. Despite Xi-era ‘common prosperity’, bigger cities may shirk the cost of extending public services to migrants. Children of migrant workers struggle to access proper education or other urban public goods under the hukou system. 

Youth joblessness due to mismatched supply and demand is worsened by the tightening state grip on private enterprises and an economy buffeted by the pandemic. The jobless young are pioneering crimes of the era: online gambling, cybercrime, environmental damage, terrorism, et al. 

who is shifting policy

Song Yinghui 宋英辉 | Beijing Normal University Juvenile Procuratorial Business Research Centre director

Long-term social stability is best served, argues Song, by attention to returning at-risk youth to normal life. Criminal records of juveniles are too bluntly regulated in the PRC, sparking public panic and irrational fear of the young. For youth with criminal records that have been closed, balancing their interests with those of society calls, he suggests, for follow-up assessments after 3-5 years. Provided they shape up, the authorities should consider deleting their files.

Taking a JD in procedural law at China University of Political Science and Law in 1992, Song has since 2006 taught at Beijing Normal University. He now serves on the Expert Advisory Committee of the SPP, as well as a national-level think-tank expert for children's work for the State Council’s National Working Committee on Children and Women.

Yao Jianlong 姚建龙 | Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Law director

Yao's research shows that faith in a just society combats juvenile delinquency. The belief that the world is unfair leaves minors more likely to offend. At the same time, belief in a level playing field indirectly improves behaviour via motivating children to help, cooperate and share. Yao cautions against ignoring the influence of the family environment on minors' faith in a just world. Good parent-child relationships, a democratic approach to education, and a well-developed family structure can all positively impact the healthy development of minors.

Taking his JD degree in 2006, Yao became Director of SASS Institute of Law in 2019, having previously worked in a drug rehabilitation centre, a procuratorate and several universities. He is mainly devoted to the research of criminal law, juvenile law, and education law and has been included in the list of the most influential scholars in Chinese philosophy and social sciences in 2017 and 2020.