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Juvenile criminal records to be erased

By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-26 09:26

Criminal records of those convicted of minor juvenile crimes could be wiped clean to better maintain rights and help people to readjust to society, officials of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Wednesday.

"We are working with other departments to establish a conditional criminal record removal system with reference to minor, juvenile crimes, clarifying the concrete conditions, time limits and procedures, as well as legal consequences of such a move," said Jiang Huiling, deputy director of the SPC's office of judicial reform.

According to the Criminal Law, offenders who received due punishment must report their history at the time of seeking employment or enrolling in the army.

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China convicted 88,891 juveniles last year, 1.58 percent higher year-on-year, SPC data suggested. Among them, 60,234 criminals, or nearly 68 percent, were involved in theft and robbery.

A number of teenagers have suffered from the negative impact of criminal records on their rights and interests in the civil and administrative sectors, said Liu Guiming, deputy secretary-general of the juvenile crimes research association under the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China.

"Young offenders of minor crimes who submitted sincere apologies deserve a second chance," Liu told China Daily. "Society needs to treat them as patients instead of criminals. We need to help them return to society instead of pushing them further to the negative side," Liu said.

Zhang Jinsuo, president of the Jilin provincial people's procuratorate, said the "rehabilitation of juvenile criminals needs a more lenient social environment to give them enough space and opportunities to repent".

Judicial systems worldwide favor the removal of juvenile criminal records. The United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty states: "All reports, including legal records, medical records and records of disciplinary proceedings, and all other documents relating to the form, content and details of treatment, should be placed in a confidential individual file and upon release, the records of juveniles shall be sealed, and, at an appropriate time, expunged."

The Pengzhou county court in Sichuan has adopted such a system on a trial basis since May 2007.

Student Liu Jin, 18, was sentenced to a year in jail (with a one-year reprieve) for making a gun illegally in September 2006. Last January, after Liu successfully completed his one-year reprieve, the court said it would write off the sentence, said Huang Yuchun, vice-president of the court.

"The record removal system will surely help him in his future development," Huang told Chengdu Commercial News.