The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) recently issued guidelines aimed at strengthening procuratorial supervision to advance the prevention and control of juvenile delinquency.
The document aims to deepen and solidify efforts in juvenile delinquency prevention and control through the high-quality, efficient performance of procuratorial duties, and promote the establishment of a comprehensive system for minor protection and juvenile crime prevention that integrates punishment, education and correction, the protection of rights and interests, crime prevention and effective governance.
Structured into 22 provisions across six sections, the guidelines focus on key areas including the law-based handling of juvenile criminal cases, promoting graded and classified correction for juvenile delinquency and misconduct, preventing crimes at the source and advancing comprehensive governance for juvenile delinquency prevention. Concrete measures are also outlined to address these challenges.
The document emphasizes that procuratorial organs should strictly uphold the principle of safeguarding the best interests of minors and adhere to the philosophy that "prevention is a kind of protection and punishment serves as a form of salvation."
A balanced approach is advocated in the guidelines, combining punishment with preventive measures, practicing the criminal policy of tempering justice with mercy and integrating special and general preventive measures, to enhance prevention and control of juvenile delinquency.
The document urges procuratorates to strictly adhere to the policy of "education, rehabilitation and redemption" and the principle of "education first, punishment second", and thoroughly implement the criminal policy of tempering justice with mercy in case handling processes. This will ensure that they properly exercise discretion in accordance with the law in handling cases involving review of arrest, review for prosecution, litigation oversight, as well as conditional non-prosecution and approval for prosecution in cases involving serious violent crimes committed by juveniles below the statutory age for criminal responsibility.
Furthermore, the document underscores the importance of prioritizing prevention and preemptive intervention, and ensuring targeted assistance and education for juveniles involved in crimes.
Efforts are urged to enhance legal supervision over specialized education and correctional programs, advance social guardianship and protection, as well as conduct criminal enforcement prosecution.
Timely intervention is highlighted to correct improper or delinquent behavior and to prevent recidivism.
In addition, the document highlights the need for procuratorates to improve their performance in four major procuratorial functions of criminal, civil, administrative and public interest litigation in minor-related procuratorial work, to ensure systematic oversight in juvenile cases and to help eliminate factors contributing to juvenile delinquency.
It calls for the active integration of protection from families and schools. This includes comprehensively carrying out family education guidance during case handling and implementing supervision orders for guardians according to the law. More efforts are urged to align enhanced procuratorial and judicial work with educational administration, to foster the development of safe and law-based campuses.
Procuratorial organs are also urged to collaborate with relevant departments to address governance challenges in key industries and sectors, including improving cyberspace governance.
By leveraging procuratorial oversight mechanisms, such as procuratorial recommendations and public interest litigation, they should ensure all responsible entities fulfill their statutory duties.
Moreover, the document outlines measures to build a highly proficient procuratorial team to handle cases involving minors and leverage digital intelligence to improve case handling quality and efficiency.
It promotes the integration of procuratorial duty performance with protection from families, schools, society, cyberspace, government and judicial bodies, to foster a synergy in preventing and addressing juvenile delinquency.
