1 / 33

Vietnam Juvenile Justice System

Vietnam Juvenile Justice System. Bangkok, Sep.2014. CONTENTS. I. CURRENT SITUATION OF VIETNAM JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM II. CURRENT PRACTICE III. CHALLENGES AND ADVANCEMENTS IV. NEXT STEPS. I. CURRENT JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM OF VIETNAM.

emanley
Download Presentation

Vietnam Juvenile Justice System

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Vietnam Juvenile Justice System Bangkok, Sep.2014

  2. CONTENTS I. CURRENT SITUATION OF VIETNAM JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM II. CURRENT PRACTICE III. CHALLENGES AND ADVANCEMENTS IV. NEXT STEPS

  3. I. CURRENT JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM OF VIETNAM 1. Legal documents on juvenile justice system No separate law on juvenile justice • Law 2004 on protection, care and education of children: provides general principles to deal with juvenile offenders. • The 1999 Penal Code: includes one chapter- provisions applicable to juvenile offenders. • The 2003 Criminal Procedural Code: includes one Chapter providing criminal procedures applicable to minors • Law 2012 on handling administrative violations and guidelines • Law 2010 on criminal judgments execution • Ordinance2014 on procedures to apply administrative measures at the court

  4. Cont. 2 systems to handle violations of minors:  Administrative system  Criminal system

  5. Administrative system – age and sanctions Legal documents: • Law 2012 on handing administrative violations • Ordiance 2014 on procedures to apply administrative measures at the court (procedure of sending to reformatory school) • Decree No.81/2013/ND-CP on detailing the Law 2012 on handling administrative violations (admonition) • Decree No.111/2013/ND-CP on education at communes and home-based supervision • Statistics: under the Law 2012, must be collected, but implementation has not been done well

  6. Administrative system – age and sanctions 1. Sanctioning administrative violation: • full 14 and under 16: be sanctioned for those administrative violations that they have intentionally committed; • full 16 and above: be sanctioned for any administrative offence that they have committed. • Sanctions: • Warning; • Fines • Diversion: warning = admonition

  7. Administrative system – Cont. 2. Education at communes: Decided by Chairs of Commune People’s Committees Full 12 and under 14: intentionally commit an act of violation that contains elements of a very serious crime as prescribed in the Penal Code between full 14 and under 16: intentionally commit an act of violation that contains elements of a serious crime as prescribed in the Penal Code between full 14 and under 18: twice or more within six months, committed larceny, swindle, gambling, or causing public disorder, but not seriously enough for criminal prosecution ➔Diversion: home-based supervision

  8. Administrative system – Cont. 3. Sending to reformatory school: Decided by District People’s Courts between full 12 and under 14 intentionally commit an act of violation that contains elements of an extremely serious crime as prescribed in the Penal Code. between full 14 and under 16 unintentionally commit an act of violation that contains elements of a very serious crime as prescribed in the Penal Code.

  9. Reformatory school– Cont. between full 14 and under 16 intentionally commit an act of violation that contains elements of a serious crime as prescribed in the Penal Code and have previously been educated at communes. between full 14 and under 18, twice or more within six months, commit larceny, swindle, gambling, or causing public disorder, but not seriously enough for criminal prosecution and have previously been educated at communes.

  10. Criminal Justice System 1. Ages subject to penal liability  Persons aged full 16 or older shall have to bear penal liability for all crimes they commit.  Persons aged full 14 to under 16 shall have to bear penal liability for very serious crimes intentionally committed or extremly seriouscrimes.

  11. 2. Principles for handling juvenile offenders • The handling of juvenile offenders aims mainly to educate and help them redress their wrongs, develop healthily and become citizens useful to society. • Juvenile offenders may be exempted from penal liability if they commit less serious crimes or serious crimes which cause no great harm and involve extenuating circumstances and they are received for supervision and education by their families, agencies.

  12. The courts, if deeming it unnecessary to impose penalties on juvenile offenders, shall apply one of the judicial measures. • Life imprisonment or the death sentence shall not be imposed on juvenile offenders. • When handing down sentences of termed imprisonment, the courts shall impose on them lighter sentences than those imposed on adult offenders of the corresponding crimes. • Fine shall not apply to juvenile offenders from full 14 to under 16 years old. • Additional penalties shall not apply to juvenile offenders. • The judgement imposed on juvenile offenders aged under 16 years shall not be taken into account for determining recidivism or dangerous recidivism.

  13. 3. Criminal sanctions Criminal Penalties: • Warning • Fine: only apply to juvenile offenders aged full 16 years and under 18 years, if having income or private property. • Non-custodial reform • Termed imprisonment:  For persons aged between full 16 and under 18 when they committed crimes, the highest applicable penalty shall not exceed 18 years of imprisonment;  For persons aged full 14 to under 16 when committing crimes, the highest applicable penalty shall not exceed 12 years

  14. Criminal sanctions (cont.) Judicial measures: • Education at communes, wards or towns; • Sending offender to reformatory schools

  15. 4. PROCEDURES APPLICABLE TO MINOR • 2002 Criminal Procedure Code • Joint Circular No. 01/2011 guiding a number of provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code on minor procedure participants • Procedure of cases involving minors must be suitable to their psychology and age. • procedural activities related to minors must be carried out in an environment convenient for the confidentiality of their personal lives, honor and dignity. • priority to the fast, accurate and timely settlement of cases involving minors

  16. PROCEDURE CONT. • investigators, procurators and judges must be trained or experienced in the investigation, prosecution and trial of minors. • Deterences applied to juvenile • Trial of cases involving minor victims

  17. II. Situation of juvenile in conflict with laws.

  18. Situation of juvenile in conflict with criminal law 2006 – 2010: total case 35.658 14 - 16 years old 4.969 minors prosecuted: 14%

  19. Cont.

  20. Sending offender to reformatory schools by year: • 2006: 80/4110 minor offenders • 2007: 75 /3897 minor offenders; • 2008: 70/3490 offenders; • 2009: 65/3207 offenders; • 2010: 55/2798

  21. Juvenile offenders punished termed imprisonment by year • 2008: 1295 persons/5332 (24,3%) • 2009: 2183 persons/ 4816 (45,3%) • 2010: 3081 person/4019 ( 77%) • male minors punished: 97% • Type of Crimes : murder, robbery, rape, drug crimes, stealing property;... • Term of imprisonment: 7-15 years; 3-7 years

  22. III. CHALLENGES AND ADVANCEMENTS • Challenges No separate justice system for juvenile offender • Lack of special procedures for children and adolescents: No specialized court, no specialized forces (investigators, prosecutors, judges) • Justice system is not friendly enough and the process is not in line with international standards on child protection • Investigation, prosecution and adjudication procedures not responsive to special needs of children in justice system. Protection of privacy of child alleged offenders is a matter of concern • Capacity of officers working with juveniles in conflict with the law as well as child victims of crime remains insufficient

  23. Challenges cont. • Diversion and reintegration programs and support services for juveniles in conflict with the law and those at risk in the community or in institutions (reform schools; prisons; etc.), are limited • Roles of welfare organizations in assisting, protecting children in contact with the justice system very modest  Viet Nam’s system of dealing with young offenders remains mainly punitive. Majority of juvenile offenders are sentenced to imprisonment.  A system for monitoring the number of children in conflict with the law dealt through the administrative system still absent

  24. 2. ADVANCEMENTS • The process of legal and judicial reform to implement Resolution 48 and 49, especially the 2013 Constitution has made great influences to juvenile justice. A range of laws regarding juvenile justice on the way to amend: Law on child care, protection and education; Penal Code; Penal Prosedure Code; Law on organization of courts; Law on execution of criminal judgement;... • The 2012 Law on handling administrative violation has made great effects to juvenile justice (70% of juvenile offenders are applied by administrative sanctions and measures; to narrow down the scope of applying the measure of reformatory school; the diversion measures are provided for the first time in juvenile justice system;...). It is also advancement for criminal justice system

  25. Decision of the Prime Minister No 535/QĐ-TTg date 14/4/2014 on implementing the recommendations of UN Committee on child rights sets tasks for concerned authorities to amend the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code; to establish specilized Court for Juvenile; to build up specilized forces to deal with juvenile cases; to strengthen resources both human and finance for juvenile system • The National Project on development of social workers is carrying out nationwide in both center and local area (in 20 provinces and cities with a huge number of social workers trained). They are main forces to implement non-custodial measures to juvenile offender in community • Great supports from UN organization, especially UNICEF.

  26. 3. Next steps  Overall objective: Child-Friendly Justice System established in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other key international standards to better protect the rights of children in contact with the justice system.  Legislation: • The draft of law on organization of people’s courts submitted to National Assembly for comments: most of National Assembly members accept with the draft of provision on specilized court for family and Juvenile. • drafts of Penal code, Penal procedure code and law on child care, protection and education are preparing to submitt the Government at the end of 2014. Those drafts propose many child interest-based provisions.  Capacity buildings

  27. Child-friendly law enforcement and justice structures developed and services improve for increased protection and support for children in contact with the justice system • Improve awareness of communities, families and children for increased supports for children in contact with the justice system • Evidence generated and data collected to inform justice for children program planning and policy development.  Long term (2016-2020): consider adopting a separate legal code for juvenile justice

More Related