Reflections on Lowering the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility: With Comments to Article 1 of the Amendment to Criminal Law (XI)

Abstract

The revision of the age of criminal responsibility is a major breakthrough in the Amendment to the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (XI) (hereinafter referred to as the Amendment to Criminal Law (XI)). The first provision of the amendment reduces the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12, which has aroused great controversy in the society and the academic circle. This move is a legislative response to the phenomenon of vicious violent crimes committed by minors and a reasonable consideration of the public's passionate public opinion, but there are still some problems worth discussing in its provisions. At present, there are many theoretical studies on the age of criminal responsibility in the academic circle. Based on this, this paper systematically sorts out the social background, theoretical viewpoints and extraterritorial legislation of the age of criminal responsibility, compares and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of different theories, and refers to the legislative experience of countries with the minimum age of criminal responsibility under 14, and accordingly puts forward relevant legislative adjustment suggestions and supporting measures to improve them, expecting to promoting the continuous optimization of China's juvenile crime prevention and control system and reducing the juvenile crime rate.