Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (2020)

Chapter I  General Provisions

Article 1   This Law is formulated for the purposes of safeguarding the physical and mental health of juveniles, cultivating their good conduct, and effectively preventing illegal acts by juveniles and juvenile delinquency.

Article 2   The prevention of juvenile delinquency shall be based on the education and protection of the juveniles, adhere to the principle of prevention first and intervention in advance, and hierarchical prevention, intervention, and correction of juveniles’ misbehaviors and serious misbehaviors shall be conducted in a timely manner.

Article 3   In the prevention of juvenile delinquency, the personal dignity of juveniles shall be respected, and the right of reputation, right of privacy, personal information, and other legal rights and interests of the juveniles shall be protected.

Article 4   The prevention of juvenile delinquency shall be conducted under the organization of the people’s governments at all levels in a comprehensive way.

State organs, people’s organizations, social organizations, enterprises, public institutions, residents’ committees, villagers’ committees, schools, and families, among others, shall respectively assume their responsibilities and cooperate with each other, work together to effectively prevent juvenile delinquency, eliminate various negative factors that give rise to juveniles’ illegal and criminal activities in a timely manner, and create a favorable social environment for the physical and mental health and development of juveniles.

Article 5   The duties of people’s governments at all levels in the prevention of juvenile delinquency shall be as follows:

(1) Developing work plans for the prevention of juvenile delinquency;

(2) Organizing the work of the prevention of juvenile delinquency by the departments of public security, education, civil affairs, culture and tourism, market regulation, cyberspace affairs, health, press and publication, film, radio and television, judicial administration and other relevant departments;

(3) Providing policy support and fund guarantee for the prevention of juvenile delinquency;

(4) Inspecting the implementation of this Law and the work plans;

(5) Organizing and carrying out the publicity and education on the prevention of juvenile delinquency; and

(6) Other duties for the prevention of juvenile delinquency.

Article 6   The State shall strengthen the development of special schools and provide special education for juveniles with serious misbehaviors. Special education is an integral part of the national education system and an important protective and punitive measure for the education and correction of juveniles with serious misbehaviors.

The people’s governments at the provincial level shall incorporate the development of special education and special schools into their plans for economic and social development. The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall set up steering committees for special education and reasonably construct special schools according to their needs.

A steering committee for special education shall be composed of education, civil affairs, finance, human resources and social security, public security, judicial administration, people’s procuratorate, people’s court, communist youth league, women’s federation, working committee for the care of the next generation, special schools, and other entities, as well as lawyers, social workers and other personnel, and shall study and determine the teaching, management, and other relevant work of special schools.

The specific measures for the construction of special schools and special education shall be developed by the State Council.

Article 7   The public security organs, people’s procuratorates, people’s courts, and judicial administrative departments shall designate special institutions or special personnel who have received special training and are familiar with the physical and psychological characteristics of juveniles to be responsible for the prevention of juvenile delinquency.

Article 8   The communist youth leagues, women’s federations, labor unions, disabled persons’ federations, working committees for the care of the next generation, youth federations, students’ federations, young pioneers and relevant social organizations shall assist the people’s governments at all levels and their relevant departments, people’s procuratorates, and people’s courts in effectively preventing juvenile delinquency, and cultivate social forces and provide support and services for the prevention of juvenile delinquency.

Article 9   The State shall encourage, support and guide social service agencies and other social organizations to participate in the work relevant to the prevention of juvenile delinquency, and strengthen supervision over their work.

Article 10   No organization or individual shall instigate, coerce, or induce any juvenile into committing misbehaviors or serious misbehaviors, or provide conditions for juveniles to commit the aforementioned acts.

Article 11   Juveniles shall abide by the laws and regulations as well as norms of social and public morality, establish the awareness of self-esteem, self-discipline and self-improvement, enhance the ability to distinguish right from wrong and protect themselves, and consciously resist the temptation and infringements of all kinds of misbehaviors and illegal and criminal acts.

Article 12   For the prevention of juvenile delinquency, studies on adolescent education, psychological care, psychological correction, and the delinquency prevention measures shall be strengthened in consideration of the physiological and psychological characteristics of juveniles at different ages.

Article 13   The state shall encourage and support the discipline development, major setup, talent training, and scientific research related to the prevention of juvenile delinquency, and conduct relevant international exchanges and cooperation.

Article 14   The state shall commend and reward organizations and individuals that have made outstanding achievements in the prevention of juvenile delinquency.

Chapter II   Education on the Delinquency Prevention

Article 15   The State, society, schools and families shall strengthen education on the core socialist values for juveniles, carry out delinquency prevention education, strengthen juveniles’ concept of the rule of law, and make juveniles establish the awareness of abiding by disciplines and laws and preventing illegal and criminal activities, and improve self-control ability.

Article 16   Parents or other guardians of the juveniles shall be directly responsible for the education on the delinquency prevention, and shall perform the guardianship duties according to the law, establish a sound family style, and cultivate juveniles’ good conduct; and where they find juveniles’ mental or behavioral abnormalities, they shall learn the situation in a timely manner and conduct education, guidance and admonition, and shall not refuse to perform or be slack in performing the guardianship duties.

Article 17   The administrative departments of education and schools shall incorporate delinquency prevention education into schools’ teaching plans, and guide faculty members in adopting various means to provide targeted education on the delinquency prevention for juveniles in light of the characteristics of juveniles.

Article 18   Schools shall employ full-time or part-time teachers to engage in the rule of law education, and may employ vice principals and out-of-school legal counsellors in charge of the rule of law education from judicial and law enforcement organs, legal education and legal service institutions, and other entities.

Article 19   Schools shall have full-time or part-time mental health education teachers to conduct mental health education. Schools may cooperate with the professional mental health institutions in light of the actual circumstances in establishing a mental health screening and early intervention mechanism to prevent and solve students’ psychological problems and problems of abnormal behaviors.

Schools shall strengthen communication with parents or other guardians of juvenile students, and work together to effectively provide education on mental health for juvenile students; and where they find that juvenile students may suffer from mental disorders, they shall immediately notify their parents or other guardians of sending them to relevant professional institutions for diagnosis and treatment.

Article 20   The administrative departments of education shall, jointly with the relevant departments, establish a system for prevention and control of student bullying. Schools shall strengthen routine safety management, improve the working process for detecting and handling of student bullying, and strictly investigate and promptly eliminate all kinds of hidden dangers that may lead to student bullying.

Article 21   The administrative departments of education shall encourage and provide support for schools to employ social workers to be stationed in schools on a long-term or regular basis to assist in the moral education, rule of law education, life education and mental health education and to participate in the prevention and handling of student bullying and other behaviors.

Article 22   The administrative departments of education and schools shall introduce scientific and reasonable educational methods by holding lectures, seminars, training and other activities, and guide faculty members, parents or other guardians of juvenile students in effectively preventing juvenile delinquency.

Schools shall inform the parents or other guardians of juvenile students of the plans for education on delinquency prevention. Parents or other guardians of juvenile students shall cooperate with schools in providing targeted education on delinquency prevention for juvenile students.

Article 23   The administrative departments of education shall include the effects of delinquency prevention education into the annual assessment of schools.

Article 24   The people’s governments at all levels and their relevant departments, people’s procuratorates, people’s courts, communist youth leagues, young pioneers, women’s federations, disabled persons’ federations, and working committees for the care of the next generation, among others, shall, in light of the actual circumstances, organize and carry out various forms of publicity and education activities for the prevention of juvenile delinquency. Where conditions permit, legal education bases for juveniles may be established so as to provide rule of law education for juveniles.

Article 25   The residents’ committees and villagers’ committees shall actively carry out targeted publicity activities for the prevention of juvenile delinquency, assist the public security organs in maintaining the public order around schools, keep abreast of the information on guardianship, school attendance and employment of juveniles within their jurisdictions, and organize and guide community social organizations to participate in the prevention of juvenile delinquency.

Article 26   The youth palaces, children’s activity centers and other places for out-of-school activities shall take education on delinquency prevention as an important work, and carry out various forms of publicity and education activities.

Article 27   Vocational training institutions and employers shall, when providing vocational training for juveniles who have attained the age of 16 and are ready for employment, include the education on delinquency prevention into the training contents.

Chapter III   Intervention in Misbehaviors

Article 28   For the purpose of this Law, the term “misbehaviors” refers to the following behaviors committed by juveniles that are not conducive to their healthy growth:

(1) Smoking and drinking;

(2) Repeatedly staying away from school without permission and playing truant;

(3) Staying out all night or running away from home for no reason;

(4) Being addicted to the Internet;

(5) Associating with people with bad habits in society, and organizing or joining in gangs committing misbehaviors;

(6) Going to places that are not suitable for juveniles as provided by laws and regulations;

(7) Participating in gambling, disguised gambling, or activities such as feudal superstition and cults;

(8) Reading, watching or listening to reading materials, audio and video recordings or online information, etc. advocating obscenity, pornography, violence, terrorism, extremism, and other contents;

(9) Other misbehaviors that are not conducive to the physical and mental health of juveniles.

Article 29   Where parents or other guardians of juveniles find misbehaviors of juveniles, they shall stop them and strengthen discipline in a timely manner.

Article 30   Where the public security organs, residents’ committees, and villagers’ committees find misbehaviors of juveniles within their jurisdictions, they shall stop them in a timely manner, and urge their parents or other guardians to perform the guardianship duties according to the law.

Article 31   Schools shall strengthen the management and education of juvenile students with misbehaviors and shall not discriminate against them; for those who refuse to make corrections or the circumstances are serious, the schools may, according to the circumstances, impose sanctions or take the following management and education measures against them:

(1) Disciplining the juvenile students;

(2) Requiring compliance with specific code of conduct;

(3) Requiring participation in specific thematic education;

(4) Requiring participation in service activities at schools;

(5) Requiring acceptance of psychological counseling and behavior intervention from social workers or other professionals;

(6) Other appropriate management and education measures.

Article 32   Schools and families shall strengthen communication and establish home-school cooperation mechanism. Where a school decides to take management and education measures against a juvenile student, it shall notify his parents or other guardians in a timely manner; and the parents or other guardians of the juvenile student shall support and cooperate with the school in conducting management and education.

Article 33   Where a juvenile student steals a small amount of property, or engages in acts of student bullying such as beating, insulting, intimidating, or forcibly demanding property, and the circumstances are not serious, the school may take corresponding management and education measures against him according to the provisions of Article 31 of this Law.

Article 34   Where a juvenile student stays away from school without permission or plays truant, the school shall contact his parents or other guardians in a timely manner to get relevant information; and where there is no justifiable reason, the school and the parents or other guardians of the juvenile student shall urge him to return to school to study.

Article 35   Where a juvenile stays out all night or runs away from home for no reason, his parents or other guardians and his boarding school shall look for him without delay, and report to the public security organ if necessary.

Where a person who takes in a juvenile who stays out all night or runs away from home, he shall contact the juvenile's parents or other guardians and school in a timely manner; if it is impossible to make contact with them, he shall report to the public security organ in a timely manner.

Article 36   The public security organ, the administrative authority of public places or other organizations shall, after finding or receiving a report on a juvenile who stays out all night, runs away from home, or tramps the street, take effective protective measures in a timely manner, notify his parents or other guardians and boarding school, and escort him back to his home or school if necessary; if it is impossible to contact his parents, other guardians or school, it shall escort the juvenile to an assistance and protection institution for rescue.

Article 37   Where a juvenile’s parents, other guardians, or school finds that he organizes or participates in a gang that commits misbehaviors, they shall stop him in a timely manner; and they shall immediately report to the public security organ if the gang is found to be suspected of breaking the law or committing crime.

Chapter IV   Correction of Serious Misbehaviors

Article 38   For the purpose of this Law, “serious misbehaviors” refers to acts committed by the juveniles that are provided in the Criminal Law but do not subject the juveniles to criminal punishment as they are under the statutory age for criminal liability, as well as the following acts that seriously endanger the society:

(1) Engaging in gang-fighting, chasing and intercepting others, forcibly taking or demanding or willfully damaging or occupying public or private property, and or committing other acts of picking quarrels and making troubles;

(2) Illegally carrying guns, ammunition or crossbows, daggers and other controlled instruments under State provisions;

(3) Beating, abusing, intimidating, or intentionally injuring another person;

(4) Stealing, looting, forcibly seizing or intentionally damaging or destroying public or private property;

(5) Disseminating obscene readings, audio and video recordings or information, etc;

(6) Engaging in prostitution, whoring, or obscene performance;

(7) Taking or injecting drugs, or providing drugs for others;

(8) Participating in gambling with relatively large amount of gamble funds;

(9) Other acts that seriously endanger society.

Article 39   Where a juvenile’s parents or other guardians, school, or residents’ committee or villagers’ committee finds that someone instigates, coerces, or entices a juvenile into committing serious misbehaviors, they shall report to the public security organ immediately. Where the public security organ receives a report or finds the aforesaid circumstances, it shall promptly investigate and handle it in accordance with the law; and effective measures shall be taken immediately to protect juveniles whose personal safety is threatened.

Article 40   Where the public security organ receives a report or finds that a juvenile committed a serious misbehavior, it shall stop the serious misbehavior in a timely manner, and investigate and handle it in accordance with the law, and may order his parents or other guardians to eliminate or mitigate the consequences of the violation of law, and take strict measures to discipline him.

Article 41   For a juvenile with serious misbehaviors, the public security organ may, in light of the specific circumstances, take the following correctional education measures:

(1) Reprimanding him;

(2) Ordering him to offer an apology and compensate for losses;

(3) Ordering him to make a statement of repentance;

(4) Ordering him to report activities on a regular basis;

(5) Ordering him to comply with the specific codes of conduct, and not to carry out specific acts, contact specific persons, or enter specific places;

(6) Ordering him to accept psychological counseling and behavior correction;

(7) Ordering him to participate in social service activities;

(8) Ordering him to receive social probation, as well as education, supervision, and discipline by social organizations and relevant institutions at an appropriate place;

(9) Other appropriate correctional education measures.

Article 42   When conducting correctional education for juveniles, the public security organs may invite schools, residents’ committees, villagers’ committees, social service agencies and other social organizations to participate therein as needed.

Parents or other guardians of juveniles shall actively cooperate with the implementation of the correctional education measures, and may not hinder or obstruct them or leave juveniles unattended.

Article 43   Where, for a juvenile with serious misbehaviors, his parents or other guardians and school are unable to discipline him or the discipline is ineffective, application may be filed with the administrative department of education, and the administrative department of education shall, upon the assessment and consent of the steering committee for special education, decide to send the juvenile to a special school for special education.

Article 44   Where a juvenile falls under any of the following circumstances, upon the assessment and consent of the steering committee for special education, the administrative department of education, jointly with the public security organ, may decide to send him to a special school for special education:

(1) Committing acts that seriously endanger society, with flagrant circumstances or having caused serious consequences;

(2) Repeatedly committing acts that seriously endanger society;

(3) Refusing to accept or cooperate with the correctional education measures as provided in Article 41 of this Law;

(4) Other circumstances as provided in laws and administrative regulations.

Article 45   Where a juvenile commits acts that are provided in the Criminal Law and is not subject to criminal penalties as he is under the statutory age for criminal liability, upon the assessment and consent of the steering committee for special education, the administrative department of education, jointly with the public security organ, may decide to conduct special correctional education for the juvenile.

The people’s governments at the provincial level shall, in light of the local actual circumstances, designate at least one special school to set up a special place by school areas, classes, and other methods, to provide special correctional education for juveniles as provided in the preceding paragraph.

The special places specified in the preceding paragraph shall be subject to closed-loop management. The public security organs and judicial administrative departments shall be responsible for the correction of juveniles, and the administrative departments of education shall be responsible for the education of juveniles.

Article 46   A special school shall, in due course, request the steering committee for special education to assess the performance of juvenile students receiving special education each semester. If, after the assessment, a juvenile student is suitable to be transferred back to an ordinary school, the steering committee for special education shall make a written proposal to the original decision-making organ, and the original decision-making organ shall decide whether to transfer the juvenile student back to the ordinary school.

Where the original decision-making organ decides to transfer the juvenile student back to the ordinary school, his original school shall not refuse to accept him; if, due to special circumstances, it is not suitable to transfer him back to his original school, the administrative department of education shall arrange to transfer him to another school.

Article 47   Special schools shall conduct education and correction of juveniles receiving special education in different hierarchies and categories, provide targeted moral education, rule of law education, and mental health education, and provide vocational education in light of the actual circumstances; and guarantee that juveniles who have not finished compulsory education continue to receive compulsory education.

The school roll of a juvenile student in a special school shall be kept in the original school, and if the graduation requirements are met, the original school shall issue a graduation certificate.

Article 48   Special schools shall strengthen contact with the parents or other guardians of juveniles receiving special education, give them regular feedback on the correction and education of juveniles, and provide convenience for parents or other guardians, and relatives to visit juveniles.

Article 49   Where the juveniles and their parents or other guardians refuse to accept the administrative decisions as provided in this Chapter, they may file administrative reconsideration or administrative litigations according to the law.

Chapter V   Prevention of Re-offending

Article 50   In handling criminal cases involving juveniles, the public security organs, people’s procuratorates, and people’s courts shall carry out targeted rule of law education in light of the juveniles’ physical and psychological characteristics and criminal circumstances.

Where the participation of adult relatives, teachers or counselors, among others, other than their legal representatives in the education of juveniles involved in the criminal cases is conducive to the rehabilitation and rescue of the juveniles, the public security organs, people’s procuratorates, and people’s courts shall invite them to participate in the relevant activities.

Article 51   In handling criminal cases involving juveniles, the public security organs, people’s procuratorates, and people’s courts may conduct on their own or entrust relevant social organizations or institutions to conduct social investigations on the growth experience, causes of crime, guardianship, education, and other situation of juvenile suspects or defendants; and with the consent of the juvenile suspects or defendants, and their legal representatives, may conduct psychological assessments of the juvenile suspects or defendants according to the actual needs.

The reports on social investigation and psychological assessments may be used as reference for handling cases and educating juveniles.

Article 52   Where the public security organs, people’s procuratorates, and people’s courts apply release on bail to juveniles who have no fixed residence and cannot provide guarantors, they shall appoint appropriate adults as guarantors and, if necessary, may arrange for juveniles who are released on bail to receive social probation.

Article 53   Juveniles who are detained or arrested or who are serving their sentences in reformatories for juvenile delinquents shall be detained, administered and educated separately from adults. Community corrections for juveniles shall be carried out separately from adults.

For juveniles who fall under the aforesaid circumstances and have not completed compulsory education, the public security organs, people’s procuratorates, people’s courts, and judicial administrative departments shall cooperate with the administrative departments of education to ensure that they continue to receive compulsory education.

Article 54   Reformatories for juvenile delinquents and community correction institutions shall strengthen rule of law education for juvenile delinquents and objects of juvenile community correction, and provide them with vocational education in light of the actual circumstances.

Article 55   The community correction institutions shall notify the objects of juvenile community correction of the relevant provisions on resettlement, assistance and education, and cooperate with the departments of resettlement, assistance and education in implementing relevant measures or solving problems of the objects of juvenile community correction such as school attendance, employment, etc.

Article 56   For a juvenile released upon completion of a sentence, the reformatory for juvenile delinquents shall notify his parents or other guardians in advance to take him back on time, and assist in implementing the resettlement, assistance and education measures. For a juvenile who has no parents or other guardians or it is impossible to find his parents or other guardians, the reformatory for juvenile delinquents shall notify in advance the judicial administrative department at the place of his original domicile or residence to arrange personnel to take him back on time, and the civil affairs department, or the residents’ committee or villagers’ committee shall implement guardianship over him in accordance with the law.

Article 57   A juvenile’s parents or other guardians, school, and residents’ committee or villagers’ committee shall take effective measures to assist and educate the juvenile who has received community corrections or who is released upon completion of a sentence, and assist the judicial organ and relevant departments in effectively carrying out the work of resettlement, assistance and education.

Residents' committees and villagers' committees may employ retirees, volunteers or other personnel who are of good ideology and moral character, honest and upright and enthusiastic about the work with juveniles, to assist in effectively carrying out the work of resettlement, assistance and education as prescribed in the preceding paragraph.

Article 58   A juvenile who has been released upon completion of a sentence or who receives community corrections shall have the same rights as other juveniles in resumption of study, entering a school of a higher grade, employment, and other respects, and no entity or individual may discriminate against him.

Article 59   Where the criminal records of juveniles are sealed in accordance with the law, the public security organs, people’s procuratorates, people’s courts, and judicial administrative departments shall not provide them to any entity or individual, except the inquiries by the judicial organs for the purpose of handling cases or the inquiries by the relevant entities according to the relevant provisions of the State. Entities and individuals that conduct inquiries in accordance with the law shall keep the relevant records and information confidential.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply to the records of the juveniles on receiving special correctional education and special education, as well as records of administrative punishments imposed, criminal compulsory measures taken, and non-prosecution.

Article 60   People’s procuratorates shall, through exercising the procuratorial power in accordance with the law, supervise the prevention of re-offending by the juveniles.

Chapter VI   Legal Liabilities

Article 61   Where the public security organ, people’s procuratorate or people’s court finds, in the course of handling a case, that the parents or other guardians of a juvenile with serious misbehaviors fail to perform the guardianship duties according to the law, they shall reprimand them and may order them to receive family education guidance.

Article 62   Where schools and their faculty members, in violation of the provisions of this Law, fail to perform the duties of preventing juvenile delinquency, or mistreat or discriminate against the relevant juveniles, the administrative department of education and other departments shall order them to take corrective action and circulate notices of criticism; and if the circumstances are serious, the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions according to the law. Where the act is against public security administration, the public security organ shall impose administrative penalty for public security on them according to the law.

A faculty member who instigates, coerces, or induces a juvenile into committing misbehaviors or serious misbehaviors, or is ill-behaved and has bad influence, shall be dismissed or discharged by the administrative department of education and school according to the law.

Article 63   Those who, in violation of the provisions of this Law, discriminate against the relevant juveniles in resumption of study, entering a school of a higher grade, employment, and other respects shall be ordered by their entities, or the department of education, human resources and social security or other departments to make corrections; and where they refuse to make corrections, the directly responsible persons in charge or other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions according to the law.

Article 64   Where relevant social organizations, institutions and their staff members mistreat or discriminate against juveniles receiving social probation, or issue false reports on social investigations or psychological assessments, the department of civil affairs, judicial administration or other departments shall impose disciplinary sanctions on the directly responsible persons in charge or other directly responsible persons according to the law, and where the act is against public security administration, the public security organ shall impose administrative penalty for public security on them.

Article 65   For those who instigate, coerce, or induce juveniles into committing misbehaviors or serious misbehaviors, which has constituted an act against public security administration, the public security organs shall impose administrative penalty for public security on them according to the law.

Article 66   Where the state organs and their staff members abuse powers, neglect duties, practice favoritism or make falsification in the prevention of juvenile delinquency, the directly responsible persons in charge or other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions according to the law.

Article 67   Where violation of this Law constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be investigated in accordance with the law.

Chapter VII   Supplementary Provision

Article 68   This Law shall come into force on June 1, 2021.