Vietnam: Proposal to prosecute minor offenders with a penalty equal to 1/2 of the penalty in the penalty frame?
How old is a minor?
Pursuant to the provisions of Article 21 of the 2015 Civil Code of Vietnam on minors as follows:
Minors
1. Minors are persons who are under eighteen years of age.
2. Civil transactions of each child under six years of age shall be established and performed by his/her legal representative.
3. Each person who is from six to under eighteen years of age must have the consent of his/her legal representative to enter in and perform civil transactions, except for civil transactions which are performed for the purpose of meeting the needs of daily life suitable for the age group.
4. Each person who is from fifteen to under eighteen years of age is entitled to enter in and perform civil transactions by himself/herself, except for civil transactions related to real estate, movables required registration and other civil transactions as prescribed by law that are subject to the consent of his/her legal representative.
Thus, a minor is defined as a person who is under 18 years of age.
Vietnam: Proposal to prosecute minor offenders with a penalty equal to 1/2 of the penalty in the penalty frame?
Persons under the age of 18 will be criminally responsible for what crimes?
Pursuant to Article 12 of the 2015 Criminal Code of Vietnam (amended by Clause 3, Article 1 of the 2017 Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code) stipulating the age of criminal responsibility in Vietnam as follows:
Age of criminal responsibility in Vietnam
1. A person from 16 years of age and above shall bear criminal responsibility for every crime, except for those otherwise prescribed by this document.
2. A person from 14 years of age to below 16 years of age shall bear criminal responsibility for very serious crimes and extremely serious crimes specified in Articles 123, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, 150, 151, 168, 169, 170, 171, 173, 178, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 265, 266, 286, 287, 289, 290, 299, 303, 304 hereof.
Thus, according to the above provisions, a person from 14 years of age to below 16 years of age shall bear criminal responsibility for very serious crimes and extremely serious crimes specified in 01 of the 28 crimes mentioned above.
Meanwhile, a person from 16 years of age and above shall bear criminal responsibility for every crime, except for those otherwise prescribed by the 2015 Criminal Code of Vietnam.
Proposal to prosecute minor offenders with a penalty equal to 1/2 of the penalty in the penalty frame?
On April 10, 2023, at the 22nd session of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, the Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court presented a summary of the proposal to develop a Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Organization People's Court, Law on Minor Justice, Ordinance on procedural expenses.
Regarding the development of the Minor Justice Law, the Supreme People's Court plans to develop this Law project with 6 policies, specifically as follows:
Policy 1: Innovating, building friendly procedural processes: Regulation of friendly proceedings; Allowing the Procuracy to prosecute minors under the penalty of only half of the penalty in the corresponding penalty frame; Regulations on procedural order and procedures for minors who are allowed to apply diversion measures at court hearings in two stages.
Policy 2: Developing and perfecting legal provisions on punishment for minors: Inheriting and developing a number of current regulations and amending and supplementing as follows: Penal system applies with minors include: Non-custodial rehabilitation; Education in reformatories; Fixed-term imprisonment; Specify the penalty frame applicable to minors.
Policy 3: Develop and complete legal provisions on measures to handle redirects. This policy inherits and develops the current regulations on supervision and education measures applied in the case of exemption from criminal liability and amends and supplements as follows: Prescribing conditions for applying measures handle redirects; identify 7 diversion measures; Regulations on order, procedures and enforcement of redirection handling measures.
Policy 4: Regulations on the national coordination mechanism on minor justice, in which it is proposed to stipulate: Assign the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to be the agency performing the coordinating function on minor justice. Minors; Functions and duties of the coordinating agency; Principles, criteria and conditions for management and use of minor justice support funds.
Policy 5: Regulation of functions, duties and powers of social workers in minor criminal justice. To prescribe conditions, rights and obligations of social workers to participate in minor justice activities.
Policy 6: Innovating the mechanism of judgment enforcement and community reintegration for minors. To prescribe the order and procedures for judgment execution of non-custodial reform and suspended sentence execution; enforcement of educational penalties at reformatory schools; execution of prison sentences and reintegration into the community.
In view, the Supreme People's Court believes that the protection of minors is still inadequate; The situation of minors violating the law and being abused is still complicated and tends to increase.
Therefore, the development of a specialized law on minor justice in order to improve the effectiveness of minor law prevention and combat, and at the same time best protect the legitimate rights and interests of minors participating in legal proceedings, promote the reintegration of minors, contribute to perfecting the legal system and protect the interests of society and the community.
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