Chinese teenagers could face harsh punishment for killing a classmate: new amendment

The issue is controversial

Three juvenile suspects in the murder of a 13-year-old boy in northern China’s Handan province face criminal charges after an investigation by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, Hebei provincial authorities said on Monday. According to Chinese media, a seventh-grader was killed and buried on March 10 by three of his same-age classmates in Handan. All suspects were detained the next day and taken into custody. A 2020 amendment to the Criminal Code lowered the age of criminal responsibility for murder and grievous bodily harm by two years from the previous legal age of 14. For the crime committed, those convicted face the death penalty, indefinite imprisonment or imprisonment for a term exceeding 10 years.

According to China’s Global Times, local prosecutors suggested that higher authorities bring criminal charges against three suspects in the brutal murder of a 13-year-old teenager, and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate ultimately supported the decision.

In December 2020, China passed Amendment XI to the Criminal Code, lowering the age of criminal responsibility for murder and grievous bodily harm by two years from the previous legal age of 14. Such requests for prosecution must be approved by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, Xinhua reported.

According to He Ting, a professor at the Faculty of Law at Beijing Normal University, the adjustment provides a way for serious violent crimes committed by juveniles to be dealt with through the judicial system, and it should take into account the new situation and characteristics of juvenile delinquency, balancing legislative measures with the feelings of victims and society.

It also indicates that prosecution and sentencing are the last resort in combating juvenile crime, and decisions must be made based on the specific circumstances of each case and individual, He said.

The case of the three teenagers has sparked a heated debate on the amendment, including the age of criminal responsibility, among Chinese netizens. Experts said at the time that the murder could be the first case in the country to use the new Criminal Amendment provision, which would serve as a “red flag” for other potential criminals.

They noted that the main cause of youth crime is the lack of family education and school supervision, with many cases involving abandoned children.

A seventh-grader was killed and buried under a tarp in an abandoned vegetable greenhouse on March 10 by three classmates of the same age in Handan, northern China’s Hebei province, according to media reports.

Relatives of the slain boy told the media that Xiao Guang’s father examined his child before the autopsy and saw obvious injuries on the boy’s head and back, the Beijing News reported. Previous Chinese press reports have alleged that Xiao Guang suffered from abuse at school for a long time.

The provincial prosecutor’s office concluded that the three were between 12 and 14 years old at the time of committing the “premeditated murder resulting in the death of a teenager.”

Almost immediately, the story rose to the top of the search list on the Chinese social network Weibo, attracting more than 1 billion views and generating more than 120 thousand relevant discussions at the time of publication.

Liu Changsun, a lawyer at Beijing law firm Mugong, urged people to remain reasonable as some angry netizens called for the death penalty for the suspects. Under Chinese law, such murder may indeed be punishable by imprisonment or death.

According to the Global Times, since the entry into force of the regulation in March 2021, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate has been working to coordinate cases with serious criminal circumstances and comply with the conditions for approval of criminal charges. Appropriate remedial training and work to assist and protect victims are also carried out in cases that are not approved.

It was noted that the management of juvenile delinquency is complex and relying only on prosecution and imposition of punishment cannot fully solve the problem of juvenile delinquency. It is necessary to strengthen the construction of a differentiated system of intervention and correction of juvenile delinquency, as well as carry out systematic prevention and management.