Forms of penalties for school violence under the law in Vietnam

Hello, to your question, Lawnet would like to answer as follows:

1. What is school violence?

School violence is understood as acts of torture, mistreatment, and beating; physical harm affecting health or acts of insulting or insulting honor and dignity; isolation; banishment; and other intentional acts that cause physical and mental harm to students, whether occurring within educational institutions or outside.

- Currently it tends to increase, occurring in many places and becoming a social problem. It is expressed in many different forms. Specifically:

+ Acts of fighting between students, school violence expressed through acts of threatening force, bringing weapons to school, forming fighting groups, gang fights, torture, and ill-treatment... to have a physical impact on the body, causing them to fall into a state of being unable to resist, causing damage to the health and life of the victim.

+ Mental violence: using words and words that insult, humiliate, trample on their dignity, hurt them mentally, and push them into negative thinking, insecurity, and fear.

+ Sexual violence: is an act of sexual harassment, rape, etc. that is suffered by students. This is a behavior that is increasingly common and shows signs of increasing. Accordingly, female students were sexually abused at school. This is one of the most evil and terrifying forms of school violence.

+ Other ways of shaping...

2. Causes of school violence

- School violence originates from the following main causes:

+ Due to personal conflicts between students, for many reasons such as leering looks, gossiping, fighting for lovers,... Impulsivity in thinking at a developing age; their thinking is not mature enough; their aggressiveness and desire to express themselves are high; they do not know how to self-regulate their emotions to resolve conflicts, but they always aim for "revenge" by causing physical and mental damage to the opponent.

+ Due to the influence of a violent environment and a lack of culture (watching violent movies, photos, books, newspapers, toys, etc.).

+ Incorrect education, lack of care from family and school, focusing on teaching knowledge, not focusing on teaching life skills and ethics...
The school has not introduced strict disciplinary measures for violations.

+ Society is cold and indifferent to acts of violence, without practical, consistent, and thorough solutions.

3. Consequences of school violence

- School violence causes the following consequences:

+ For victims of school violence: being harmed both physically and psychologically; always confused, scared, and haunted when going to school. This means that both physical and mental development are not guaranteed.

+ For those who commit acts of school violence: being shunned and isolated by friends around them.

+ For educational work: the school environment is disrupted. This causes other students to be affected without the most comprehensive school environment foundation to study, play, and practice.

4. What are the penalties for school violence in Vietnam?

School violence is an act that violates ethical principles. It causes negative consequences for the victim as well as everyone around them. Therefore, learned acts of violence can be handled as administrative violations, civil actions, or, more seriously, criminal actions.

4.1. Handle administrative violations

- According to Article 5 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations 2012, people from 14 years old to under 16 years old are subject to administrative penalties for intentional administrative violations.

- Also, according to the provisions of Article 22 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations 2012, individuals who commit acts of school violence may be given a warning if the act has not caused serious consequences and has extenuating circumstances, or for all administrative violations committed by minors from 14 years old to under 16 years old.

Thus, for administrative sanctions, individuals who commit acts of school violence intentionally, without causing serious consequences, and with extenuating circumstances, may be subject to a warning.

4.2. Civil compensation

- According to Section 1, school violence is an act that violates the body, honor, dignity, and mental health, so it is the basis for applying civil sanctions.

- According to Article 590 of the Civil Code 2015, a person who commits an act causing health damage to another person may have to compensate for civil damages. Includes the following costs:

  + Reasonable expenses for treatment, training, and restoration of health and lost or reduced functions of the damaged person;

+ Actual income lost or reduced by the person suffering damage; If the actual income of the person suffering damage is unstable and cannot be determined, the average income of workers of the same type shall apply;

  + Reasonable expenses and actual lost income of the person taking care of the victim during treatment; If the damaged person loses the ability to work and needs someone to regularly take care of him or her, the damages include reasonable costs for taking care of the damaged person;

- According to Article 592 of the Civil Code 2015, a person who commits an act of infringing on the honor, dignity, or reputation of another person must be responsible for compensating for the costs determined as follows:

+ Reasonable costs to limit and repair damage;

+ Actual income is lost or reduced;

+ Other damages prescribed by law.

Note: According to the provisions of Article 586 of the Civil Code 2015 on the individual's capacity to be responsible for compensation for damages:

- People aged 18 years or older who cause damage must compensate themselves.

- If a person under 15 years old causes damage and still has a parent, the parent must compensate for all damages; If the parent's property is not enough to compensate but the minor child who caused the damage has his or her own property, then use that property to compensate for the remainder (except for the cases specified in Article 599 of the Civil Code 2015).

- If a person from 15 years old to under 18 years old causes damage, he or she must compensate with his or her property; If there are not enough assets to compensate, the father and mother must compensate for the remaining balance with their assets.

4.3 Criminal sanctions

- In principle, people aged 16 years or older are criminally responsible for all crimes. People who are 14 years old or older, but under 16 years old, must bear criminal responsibility for very serious intentional crimes or especially serious crimes.

Thus, students who commit acts of school violence when they are 16 years old or older will be held criminally responsible for the following crimes:

- According to Clause 22, Article 1 of the Penal Code 2015, amended in 2017, regulating the crime of intentionally causing injury, any person who intentionally injures or causes harm to the health of another person with a bodily injury rate of between 11% and 30% or less than 11% but falls into one of the following cases shall be sentenced to non-custodial reform for up to 03 years or imprisonment from 06 months to 03 years:

+ Using dangerous weapons or tricks that cause harm to many people;

+ Committing the crime multiple times against the same person or against many people;

+ Having a hooligan nature or is a dangerous repeat offender.

- In addition, individuals who commit acts of school violence may also be prosecuted for criminal liability for humiliating others.

+ According to Article 155 of the Penal Code 2015, which regulates the crime of humiliating others, anyone who seriously offends the dignity and honor of another person will be subject to a warning, a fine ranging from 10,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND, or non-custodial reform for up to 03 years.

Note: People from 14 years old to under 16 years old will be prosecuted for criminal liability in cases where school violence causes particularly serious consequences for the health and life of the victim.

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