Zhang Hao, all-media reporter of the Rule of Law Daily
On June 1, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued the “White Paper on Procuratorial Work for Minors (2022)” (hereinafter referred to as the “White Paper”), disclosing for the first time that the procuratorial organs strengthen the integrated performance of the “four major procuratorates” and deepen the comprehensive and comprehensive judicial protection of minors. the situation. The white paper analyzes and summarizes the case data of the “four major prosecutors” involving minors, strengthens two-way protection, strengthens integrated performance of duties, promotes the overall implementation of the “six major protections”, promotes professional and standardized construction, and deepens theoretical research.
The white paper shows that from 2020 to 2022, judging from the situation of juvenile criminal suspects accepted by the procuratorate for review and arrest and review and prosecution, the overall trend of juvenile crime is on the rise, the proportion of crimes committed by young juveniles has increased, and juveniles are suspected of helping the information network. The crime of criminal activities has increased significantly, the proportion of juvenile drug crimes has continued to decline, the number of school bullying and violent crimes has continued to decline, and the recidivism rate of juveniles has continued to decline.
The white paper makes a statistical analysis of the special protection of minors and the implementation of the special system:
The legal aid system for minors is effectively implemented. From 2020 to 2022, the number of times procuratorial organs have notified to provide legal aid to juvenile criminal suspects will increase by an average annual rate of 20.58%. At the same time, the presence of legal representatives of minors and suitable adults is better.
The number of juvenile criminals pleading guilty and accepting punishment has increased. From 2020 to 2022, the procuratorial organs will apply the leniency system for juvenile criminal cases to 50,062, 61,403, and 67,097 people, respectively, and the number of people who apply it is increasing year by year.
The conditional non-prosecution system for juvenile delinquency works well. From 2020 to 2022, the procuratorial organs’ conditional non-prosecution of juvenile criminal suspects was 11,376, 19,783, and 26,161, respectively, and the application rates of conditional non-prosecution were 20.87%, 29.69%, and 36.1%, respectively. In 2022, the number of people who were revoked and filed public prosecutions accounted for 3.13% of the total number of conditional non-prosecutions, which was basically the same as in previous years, reflecting that while the number of people who applied for it increased, the quality of the application continued to improve.
From 2020 to 2022, the procuratorial organs will seal up criminal records of 28,163, 31,510, and 33,021 eligible minors, an increase of 17.3% in 2022 compared to 2020.
The white paper also shows that the total number of crimes against minors has declined, but sexual assault cases are still on the rise, the number of crimes involving minors in violation of public security management has increased, and crimes against minors under the age of 14 have increased.
According to the white paper, the procuratorate will severely crack down on various crimes that violate the rights and interests of minors, such as sexual assault and trafficking. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and other relevant departments jointly launched a special campaign against sexual assault crimes and a special campaign against the crime of trafficking in women and children. For crimes that seriously infringe upon the rights and interests of minors, such as sexual assault and abduction, the arrest and prosecution shall be severely punished, and severe sentencing recommendations shall be put forward. The Supreme Procuratorate followed up and guided more than 70 major and sensitive cases of violations of minors across the country, and cooperated with the Ministry of Public Security to supervise and guide the handling of major trans-provincial cases. Establish a mechanism with public security organs to listen to opinions, jointly supervise handling, and connect with counterparts in major and difficult cases, strengthen information sharing and business research and judgment, and continuously improve the quality and efficiency of combating crimes against minors.
The procuratorial organs have done a solid job in the rescue and protection of minors. According to the white paper, a total of 2,053 “one-stop” inquiry, rescue and case handling areas for minor victims have been established across the country. The procuratorate has strengthened multi-dimensional comprehensive assistance for minor victims. In 2022, a total of 17,000 minors will be rescued, 220 million yuan in relief funds will be issued, psychological counseling and psychological assessment will be carried out for 10,000 people, 3,593 people will be assisted in life resettlement, and 2,858 people will be helped to return to school. person-times.
The white paper pointed out that the procuratorial organs should adapt to the new requirements of the judicial protection of minors in the new era, give full play to the advantages of centralized and unified handling of the procuratorial business of minors, play a “combined punch” in the protection of the rights and interests of minors, and strive to realize the “four major procuratorial measures” for minors. The “chemical reaction” after the combination of functions maximizes the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of minors. In 2022, a total of 9,700 public interest litigation cases for the protection of minors were filed, and 3,217 public interest litigation clues were found and filed in criminal cases involving minors, accounting for 32.4% of the total number of cases filed.
The protection of minors requires the integration and coordination of the “six major protections”. The white paper introduces the relevant work carried out by procuratorial organs in strengthening integrated performance of duties and deepening comprehensive and comprehensive judicial protection.
Procuratorial organs actively integrate into family protection, carry out in-depth family education guidance for cases involving minors, and promote family education guidance for “problem parents”. In 2022, the procuratorial organs will carry out the work of “supervising and urging guardianship orders” in handling cases involving minors, specifically supervising and guiding guardians to effectively and effectively perform their guardianship duties, and issued a total of more than 50,000 “supervising and urging guardianship orders”. Among them, 43,334 “supervisory guardianship orders” were issued to guardians of juvenile criminal suspects, a year-on-year increase of 193.7%; 14,091 “supervisory guardianship orders” were issued to guardians of minor victims, a year-on-year increase of 2.1 times.
In addition, the procuratorate handled a total of 3,368 supporting prosecution cases involving minors other than guardianship supervision last year, doubling the year-on-year increase. Among them, there were 1953 cases of recourse to child support, 136 cases of suspense of dropping out of school, and 1279 cases of others.
Procuratorial organs actively integrate into school protection to promote the construction of a rule of law campus and a safe campus. The work of prosecutors serving as vice principals of the rule of law has been carried out in depth, and more than 39,000 prosecutors across the country have been promoted to serve as vice principals of the rule of law in more than 77,000 schools.
The procuratorial organs continue to solidly integrate into social protection, effectively integrate into network protection, and comprehensively integrate into government protection, continue to implement the mandatory reporting system for cases of infringement of minors, conscientiously implement the entry inquiry system, and continue to supervise and urge hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, commercial entertainment venues, Internet cafes, etc. The problem of receiving minors in violation of regulations in other places has been rectified. Continue to do a good job in supervising the implementation of the “No. 6 Procuratorial Suggestion”, and severely punish cyber crimes that infringe on the rights and interests of minors.
The white paper pointed out that the procuratorial organs will thoroughly implement the principle of “most beneficial to minors”, insist on “handling every case with high quality and efficiency”, and perform the procuratorial functions of criminal, civil, administrative, and public interest litigation in a centralized and unified manner in accordance with the law, and strive to make the procuratorial judiciary The protection is deepened and solid, and the “six major protections” of family, school, society, network, government, and judiciary are deepened and solid, and the modernization of juvenile procuratorial work is solidly promoted, and more effective services are provided to ensure the safe and healthy growth of minors.