On Value Conflicts And Balance Of Dual Protection Principle In China's Juvenile Criminal Policy

There is a long history of the dual protection principle.After the industrial revolution of 19 th century,the wave of crimes had been risen continuously,in which minor crimes accounted for a large proportion.Faced with such social background,it was a dilemma to deal with juvenile delinquency whether based on the theory of retribution which focuses on severe punishment or based on the theory of education which focuses on prevention.Either of these two theories can not be the only way to effectively control juvenile delinquency.In the 1980 s,experts and scholars proposed the concept of dual protection principle together.In 1985,this concept was included in The Beijing Rules.The dual protection principle has been applied in judicial practice to solve the problem of juvenile delinquency.The principle of dual protection includes not only the inherent values of punishment which are prudent punishment,justice and humanity,but also its unique value foundations which are the social benefits and the juvenile benefits.How these two different values effects the application of the principle of dual protection is reflected on whether to adopt a severe punishment policy or a lenient policy or a policy which integrates leniency with severity for juvenile delinquency.Therefore,different counties have different criminal justice models for minors in the judicial practice.Until the fifties and sixties of the 20 th century,in western countries such as the United States,Japan and Germany,the juvenile justice concept only emphasized on the one-way protectionism which was focused on the special protection of the interests of one party while ignoring the interests of the other party,which means that the protection of the rights and interests of juvenile offenders and the protection of social interests is a "one or the other" choice.In our country,there is also value conflict of dual protection.However,the judicial practice of minors is quite different in our country compared with western countries.Especially in recent years,juvenile crimes in our country have shown new features.Therefore,there are certain particularities of value conflict about dual protection principle in our country.There are mainly two types of specific conflicts.The first one is the conflict between protecting the rights and interests of minors and fighting crimes.The second one is the conflict between the minors and the victims,especiallywhen the victims are also minors.The reasons why the dual protection principle,a criminal policy that not only shows forgiveness and care for juvenile delinquencies,but also reflects the protection of social interests,does not achieve the criminal aim to reconcile these conflicts are as followings:the limitation of reality,the limitation of ability and the misunderstanding of cognition.Therefore,how to find a best balance between protecting minors' interests and social interests is a question.In judicial practice,although it is very important to protect minors who commit crime,we also need to balance the protection and punishment.We need to be tolerant but not indulgent to minors who commit crimes,and pay more attention to the protection of minor victims.In addition,in individual cases,we can not protect minors without distinction.Based on comprehensive analysis,the punishment should be individualized according to individual case.Only in this way can we reduce the value conflicts of the application of the dual protection principle in judicial practice,and then can we effectively alleviate the serious social problem of juvenile delinquency.