Research On Legal Issues Of The Correction Of Juvenile Delinquent

Along with the development and transformation of our society,new problems and changes in the area of juvenile delinquency are emerging.Although the figures show an overall downward trend in the rate of juvenile crime in recent years,the younger age group,the complexity of the types of crimes committed by minors and the degree of seriousness of these crimes have intensified.In particular,the murders of teachers and mothers by underage minors over the past decade have not only shocked prosecutors but also sent shivers down the spine of the public with their skill and calmness after the crime.The occurrence of a series of vicious and violent cases,and the fact that some minors are emboldened to commit crimes,has made the public and legislators aware of the need to prevent minors from committing crimes and reduce their recidivism through corrective measures.In response to the frequent occurrence of criminal cases involving underage minors,China made individual downward adjustments to the legal minimum age of criminal responsibility in the Amendment(Ⅺ)to the Criminal Law,and adopted and amended three laws around 2020,namely the Law on Community Correction,the Law on the Protection of Minors and the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency,which deal with the correction of delinquent minors.However,due to the late start and slow development of the correctional system and practice for minors,the result is that there are still many problems to be tackled in legislation and judicial practice.At the level of correctional philosophy for minors,China has inherited from the West the concept of educational punishment,the idea of Parens Patriae and the concept of maximizing interests of children.Although in judicial practice China has internalised these principles through the protection of human rights of minors,the protection of information privacy and differential treatment,there are still some cases of rigid adaptation and mismatch with our correctional practice.Legislatively,the protection and correction of minors is scattered throughout the Criminal Code,the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency,the Law on the Protection of Minors,the Criminal Procedure Law and the Law on Community Corrections.The lack of general legal provisions,the absence of a human dimension and the lack of complementarity between the central and local legislation have led to a lack of clarity and confusion in the application of the law and its provisions.In the judicial sphere,the negative impact of custodial correction,the lack of involvement of social forces and the lack of attention to post-release resettlement have also come to light.In addition,in the social sphere,the failure of school education,the lack of family supervision and management and the subcultural environment of society are also hampering the correctional process for minors.In order to break through the dilemma of the correction of minors who have been wrongly convicted and to propose practical measures in line with our national conditions,it is necessary to build on domestic and international concepts of justice for minors and to Chineseise the concepts of education and punishment,the idea of Parens Patriae and the concept of maximizing interests of children through legislation and judicial practice,as well as to further explore the tradition of "compassion for the young" in our ancient legal system.In the legislative sphere,the feasibility and relevance of the legal provisions should be enhanced and the gap between central and local legislation bridged.In judicial practice,the correction of minors should be achieved by increasing the scope and proportion of noncustodial correction,widening the channels of participation of social forces and improving the post-correctional placement of minors who have committed crimes.The combined efforts of legislation and the judiciary are ultimately aimed at realising the basic values of the protection of minors and the prevention of juvenile delinquency.Therefore,the penal nature of correction should not be overlooked in the process of correction,but the best results should be achieved by balancing correction and punishment,the protection of the interests of the victim and the protection of the minor’s human rights,and the relationship between correctional authorities and social organisations.Only in this way can we achieve the correctional results expected by the State and the people,reduce juvenile delinquency and avoid juvenile reoffending,and help them to truly return to society.