Chinese courts to take extra measures to solve youth crime

While being required to attach greater importance to alleviating conflicts in early stage, Chinese courts have also been urged to work with schools, internet operators and government departments to solve juvenile crimes.

The requirement was recently made by the Supreme People’s Court, China’s top court, after saw a rapid growth in crimes in the first three months of this year.

Data released by the top court showed that courts nationwide dealt with more than 11 million criminal cases from January to March, up 1.49 percent year-on-year.

In the face of the rising cases, courts at all levels should not only accurately apply the Criminal Law to solve them, but also figure out the reasons why the offenses occurred to prevent similar incidents, the top court said.

“We cannot rely solely on trials to combat crimes. We need to take early measures when handling simple disputes to ensure that the conflicts are truly resolved at the root, so as to avoid the problems becoming serious,” it added.

At the same time, courts across the country should fight juvenile crimes by increasing joint efforts with families, schools, internet platforms and government agencies, as the comprehensive system will be better to ensure the healthy growth of minor offenders while correcting their mistakes, it said.

“Punishment without addressing the root causes of teenagers’ wrong behaviors is not an effective way to combat juvenile crimes. Prevention at the source is the key,” it added.

According to the data, about 12,000 juvenile criminals were punished from January to March, an increase of 77.67 percent year-on-year.

In addition, Chinese courts have been required to fully respect and protect the legitimate rights of defendants and their lawyers in criminal case handling to further uphold justice, with clear explanations of laws while announcing judgments.