With the rapid development of the economy and society and the rule of law, the term "capacity for criminal responsibility" has begun to appear frequently in people's field of vision in recent years. Among them, whether minors should be held accountable for violating the law or even violating criminal laws is one of the hot topics.
The capacity for criminal responsibility refers to the ability of the perpetrator to recognize and control his or her own behavior in the sense of criminal law that must be possessed in order for the perpetrator to constitute a crime and bear criminal responsibility. Even if a person who does not have the capacity for criminal responsibility commits an act that endangers society, he cannot become the subject of the crime and cannot be pursued for criminal responsibility; Where the capacity for criminal responsibility is weakened, their criminal responsibility is appropriately reduced. For ordinary citizens, as long as they reach a certain age and have normal physical and intellectual development, they have the corresponding ability to recognize and control their own behavior, and thus have the capacity for criminal responsibility. However, some people will lose or weaken their ability to be held criminally responsible due to illness, age, etc.
Some time ago, three junior high school students in the case of three junior high school students in Handan, Hebei Province, who killed their classmates, were minors, and the case involved the issue of criminal responsibility.
It just so happened that the editor also received a consultation about juvenile violations some time ago, and today the editor will take you to talk about the legal provisions on age in the criminal responsibility capacity of minors.
Explain the law with cases
At the beginning of April 2024, the editor received an inquiry from a client, and X came to me with a wry smile on his face and said: " Lawyer Rao, we really encountered a headache, Y (only 12 years old) is quite naughty, I don't know how he did it, he actually hacked into the monitoring system of our unit, and he found that there are some more outrageous behaviors in the video, Y downloaded the video after discovering it and spread it widely, if the party in the video sees this video may have a big deal, fortunately we found and stopped the behavior of this bear child in time, but this behavior may not be appropriate, please ask Lawyer Rao how to deal with this situation in our unit, ”
So what should be done about this case? How to solve the troubles of the parties who can't cry or laugh? If you want to know what happened next, please see the following breakdown
Letters of the law
Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 17: [Age of Criminal Responsibility]Persons who have reached the age of 16 shall bear criminal responsibility for committing crimes.
A person between the ages of 14 and 16 who commits the crimes of intentional homicide, intentional injury causing serious injury or death, rape, robbery, drug trafficking, arson, explosion, or disseminating dangerous substances shall bear criminal responsibility.
Where a person who has reached the age of 12 but is not yet 14 years old commits the crime of intentional homicide or intentional injury, causing death or causing serious injury by especially cruel means, causing serious disability, and the circumstances are heinous, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate approves the prosecution, he shall bear criminal responsibility.
Persons under the age of 18 who are pursued for criminal responsibility in accordance with the provisions of the preceding three paragraphs shall be given a mitigated or commuted punishment.
Where criminal punishment is not given because they are under the age of 16, their parents or other guardians are to be ordered to discipline them;
Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 27: Individuals and organizations must not engage in activities that endanger network security, such as illegally invading others' networks, interfering with the normal functions of others' networks, or stealing network data;
Article 63: Violating the provisions of article 27 of this Law by engaging in activities that endanger network security, or by providing programs or tools specifically for use in activities endangering network security, or by providing technical support, advertising, or promotion for others to engage in activities that endanger network security. Where payment and settlement assistance does not constitute a crime, the public security organs are to confiscate unlawful gains and give a detention of up to 5 days, and may give a concurrent fine of between 50,000 and 500,000 RMB;
Where units exhibit the conduct in the preceding paragraph, the public security organs are to confiscate unlawful gains, give a fine of between 100,000 and 1,000,000 RMB, and punish the directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
Persons who violate the provisions of article 27 of this Law and receive public security administrative sanctions must not engage in work in key positions in network security management and network operations for five years, and persons who receive criminal punishments must not engage in work in key positions in network security management and network operations for life.
Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency
Article 31: Schools shall strengthen management education for minor students with negative conduct, and must not discriminate;
(1) Discipline them;
(2) Require compliance with specific codes of conduct;
(3) Requiring participation in education on specific topics;
(4) Require participation in on-campus service activities;
(5) Requesting psychological counseling and behavioral intervention from social workers or other professionals;
(6) Other appropriate management and education measures.
The applicable legal provisions in the cases mentioned in this article may be
According to Article 27 of the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China, Y's behavior violates the provisions of this article. The student may be punished in accordance with Article 63 of the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China without considering other factors, but considering that he is a minor and the circumstances of the illegal act have not caused serious consequences, the law that is more appropriate for this case should be dealt with in accordance with Article 31 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency.
The ancients said: Don't take evil as small, don't take good as small. Minors are the future of the motherland and the future of a family, and paying attention to the rule of law education for minors is to escort the bright future of minors and the bright future of the country and family.
Xiaobian reminds you that in a society governed by the rule of law, no place outside the law, no people outside the law, no one can do whatever they want, whether it is to protect rights and interests, or to express their demands must be carried out on the track of the rule of law, and any behavior that exceeds the law will eventually be punished by law.
Lawyer Rao Min
Senior partner of Chongqing Jinmu Jinyang Law Firm
Secretary of the Party Branch
Areas of Practice: Copyright, Company Law, Construction Contracts, Marriage and Family Law
Editor in charge: Sunshine
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