China is currently being rocked by a spate of grisly murders of young girls by boys as young as 12. The way the communist country handles juvenile killers, however, is equally astonishing – typically, it lets them out in mental institutions for a short spell instead of locking them up as adults. This information came from New York Post news article.
When China tries to solve this problem of punishing children who commit such appalling atrocities mostly on other children, parents to the victims are often left waiting for justice which may never come.
Across different countries worldwide for years now there has been a struggle to reconcile between punishment and leniency with regard child offenders. In China this argument is very significant because historically that meant being more clement with children who committed offences than restraining the rights given adult criminal defendants. For many years, the Chinese Government’s policy has emphasized more on education and rehabilitation than imprisonment.
However, this approach has faced public opposition recently. A number of high-profile cases involving minors have taken place over the past few years leading to calls by many Chinese people on tougher measures against underage crime. To heed these demands for change. The government has begun responding as per what is en vogue among people in its jurisdiction.
One such parent is Gong Junli; whose daughter aged 8 was stabbed to death brutally by a 13-year-old boy and he is still anxiously waiting at home for verdicts regarding whether his child’s killer should be imprisoned by Supreme People’s Court (SPC).
The story of one single father made headlines in March. When authorities decided that they were filing charges against a teenager. Red Star News reported that the boy took his daughter to an area covered in woods within Xinjing Township during September 2022.
According to officials, once inside the woods the boy reportedly stabbed her several times and then abandoned her body among some poplar trees.
Authorities said that prior to committing the crime. The 13-year old suspect had collected a number of items including knives, blades, disposable gloves and plastic ropes. These objects were carefully hidden under foliage in the bushy place. Where he invited his victim to accompany him during play.
Officials stated that during questioning with police, the teenage suspect demonstrated indifference and spoke about what happened rather casually.
China reduced its age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12 years in 2021. However unlike USA, children are not placed in detention centers and rarely receive adult level punishments for committing murder. Since even before this amendment was made last year. There have been lax sentencing practices with young offenders often being sent for short stays at juvenile rehabilitation centers or psychiatric corrective institutions.
The new law notwithstanding, China still experiences surging juvenile cases. Over the course of 2020-2023, a total of 243 thousand minors were alleged before the court with a mean case escalation of 5%. Recently, it was communicated that SPC pronounced sentences on 12000 juveniles within three months in early 2024 and renewed its guidelines on putting an end to child delinquency implying that parents and guardians could be held accountable for their children’s conduct by courts.
Specifically, the court noted that between 2012 and 2021 approximately one-third of young people engaged in violent crimes belonged to “left behind” families or single parent households. Besides, rural areas where children are left to live while their parents go to work are also associated with high rates of bullying in China. Parents have been called upon to come back home after this wave of violence and concentrate more upon their kids bringing up since Supreme People’s Court has pleaded communities to collaborate in dealing with this matter.
