Jointly issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), the Supreme People's Court and the ministries of public security and justice, the guidelines are aimed at better protecting the lawful rights and interests of minors, said Wan Chun, an official with the SPP, at a press conference.
The guidelines made provisions on the application of laws, case handling and working mechanisms in sections including the crackdown on mafia-like organizations that take advantage of minors to commit crimes, law-based case handling and juvenile delinquency prevention, Wan said.
Wan noted that the number of juvenile offenders involved in organized crime has been rising year by year, though their proportion remains small.
Data shows that the numbers of underage persons prosecuted by procuratorates nationwide for organizing, leading and participating in such crimes registered year-on-year increases of 410 percent and 29 percent in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Underage persons were induced to join mafia-like organizations and criminal groups and were forced to turn themselves in by other members after crimes were committed.
From January 2018 to March 2020, procuratorates across the country have approved the arrest of 135,865 people involved in 46,173 cases of organized crimes, of whom 3,841 were minors.
Altogether 173,235 suspects involved in 28,091 such crimes have been prosecuted, including 7,277 minors. Enditem
