An Inquiry Into The Problem Of Lowering The Age Of Criminal Responsibility In China

In recent years,juvenile delinquency is not only a hidden danger of social security,but also a difficult problem that is solved by our country.However,the stipulation of the minimum age of criminal responsibility at the age of 14 in our country cannot stop the development of the grim situation of juvenile delinquency and violence,which makes the public question the regulation.Whether it is necessary to reduce the age of criminal responsibility in China,academic circles have different views.Proponents of the same theory believe that the reasons for juvenile delinquency are not because of their age,the existence of some bad factors,such as family,schools and society.In order to solve this problem,it is necessary to proceed from a variety of aspects and perspectives,and takes a mufti-pronged approach.Scholars who demand to reduce the age of criminal responsibility in China believe that,on the one hand,as minors mature physically and mentally,they have a certain ability of cognition and control over their behavior,on the other hand,juvenile delinquency occurs frequently in the society,but they are not well bound by the law.Therefore,it is necessary to adjust the age of criminal responsibility to prevent and punish juvenile delinquency.Elasticity theorists think that the lower limit of the age of criminal responsibility should not be determined,but should be flexible and have a certain scope,which can not only prevent the expansion of the criminal population and infringe on the rights and interests of minors,but also realize the purpose of criminal law.Raising the view that national compulsory education is a nine-year system,and that the age at which minors complete this compulsory education is at the age of 15 years before they have the ability to identify and control it,who can assume criminal responsibility.At the same time,raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility also complies with the international rules for the protection of minors.Juvenile delinquency is very harmful to society,this is internationally recognized.Other countries are also trying to find a solution to this problem.Some countries lower the lower limit of the age of criminal responsibility,such as Japan;Some aredetermined by the subjective malice of minors,and then make up their insufficient physiological age to bear the age of criminal responsibility,such as the United Kingdom.Based on the above,this paper attempts to base on the actual situation of severe under-age crime in our country,and analyzes the necessity and feasibility of reducing the age of criminal responsibility by drawing lessons from the provisions of foreign relevant legal systems.This paper expounds the supplementary measures after lowering the age of criminal responsibility,in order to help that reform the relevant system of the age of criminal responsibility in the future.There are six parts in this paper.The first part is an overview of the age of criminal responsibility,which takes the meaning of the age of criminal responsibility as the starting point,and the relationship between the age of criminal responsibility and the capacity of criminal responsibility is discussed.Then expounds our country ancient and other countries to the criminal responsibility age law stipulation.The second part is to describe the age of criminal responsibility stipulated in the present criminal law of our country,and whether it has the ability of identification and control in the sense of criminal law.Divided into three categories: the person with no criminal responsibility,the person with limited criminal responsibility and the person with full criminal responsibility.This provides a legal basis for combating crime and distinguishing penalties.The third part analyzes the current age of criminal responsibility in our country with high age of criminal responsibility,and that is difficult to determine in judicial practice.which is the basis and foundation of the following discussion.The fourth part mainly introduces some theories about the age of criminal responsibility in our country.This theory is respectively lower theory,flexibility theory,invariant theory and raise theory.Through the discussion of these views,it also provides some academic support for the following.The fifth part is to analyze the necessity and feasibility of down-regulation of the minimum age of criminal responsibility,and to provide some theoretical basis for the concrete measures and ideas.The sixth part describes the appropriate age and reasons for lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility,and the corresponding measures in view of other problems arising in the judicial practice of the age of criminal responsibility system.The end,hope that the age of criminal responsibility system can be perfected.