Coping with the Younger Age of Crime: From the Perspective of Lowering the Age of Criminal Responsibility

In recent years, the frequent incident of juvenile “crime according to the law” has led to social anger and anxiety. Calls for lowering the age of criminal responsibility keep rising, and the “Amendment to Criminal Law (XI)” also reduce the statutory minimum age of criminal responsibility individually. However, the proposal of amending the law has not been properly assessed scientifically and fully discussed theoretically. Under the guidance of China's juvenile criminal policy, according to the limitation of criminal penalty, the particularity of juveniles, the diversity of relief and the regularity of the age of criminal responsibility, the age of criminal responsibility should not be reduced as a mean to punish the younger age of criminal responsibility. Under the background of decreasing juvenile crime rate year by year, further clarifying the applicable conditions for special remedial education, and rationally applying educational disciplinary measures, and increase guardians' responsibility for criminal supervision, and balancing the boundary between punishment and protection are basic thought to deal with the younger age of crime.