Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is formulated for the purposes of safeguarding the physical and mental health of juveniles, cultivating their good conduct, and effectively preventing illegal acts by juveniles and juvenile delinquency.
Article 2 The prevention of juvenile delinquency shall be based on the education and protection of the juveniles, adhere to the principle of prevention first and intervention in advance, and hierarchical prevention, intervention, and correction of juveniles’ misbehaviors and serious misbehaviors shall be conducted in a timely manner.
Article 3 In the prevention of juvenile delinquency, the personal dignity of juveniles shall be respected, and the right of reputation, right of privacy, personal information, and other legal rights and interests of the juveniles shall be protected.
Article 4 The prevention of juvenile delinquency shall be conducted under the organization of the people’s governments at all levels in a comprehensive way.
State organs, people’s organizations, social organizations, enterprises, public institutions, residents’ committees, villagers’ committees, schools, and families, among others, shall respectively assume their responsibilities and cooperate with each other, work together to effectively prevent juvenile delinquency, eliminate various negative factors that give rise to juveniles’ illegal and criminal activities in a timely manner, and create a favorable social environment for the physical and mental health and development of juveniles.
Article 5 The duties of people’s governments at all levels in the prevention of juvenile delinquency shall be as follows:
(1) Developing work plans for the prevention of juvenile delinquency;
(2) Organizing the work of the prevention of juvenile delinquency by the departments of public security, education, civil affairs, culture and tourism, market regulation, cyberspace affairs, health, press and publication, film, radio and television, judicial administration and other relevant departments;
(3) Providing policy support and fund guarantee for the prevention of juvenile delinquency;
(4) Inspecting the implementation of this Law and the work plans;
(5) Organizing and carrying out the publicity and education on the prevention of juvenile delinquency; and
(6) Other duties for the prevention of juvenile delinquency.
Article 6 The State shall strengthen the development of special schools and provide special education for juveniles with serious misbehaviors. Special education is an integral part of the national education system and an important protective and punitive measure for the education and correction of juveniles with serious misbehaviors.
The people’s governments at the provincial level shall incorporate the development of special education and special schools into their plans for economic and social development. The local people’s governments at or above the county level shall set up steering committees for special education and reasonably construct special schools according to their needs.
A steering committee for special education shall be composed of education, civil affairs, finance, human resources and social security, public security, judicial administration, people’s procuratorate, people’s court, communist youth league, women’s federation, working committee for the care of the next generation, special schools, and other entities, as well as lawyers, social workers and other personnel, and shall study and determine the teaching, management, and other relevant work of special schools.
The specific measures for the construction of special schools and special education shall be developed by the State Council.
Article 7 The public security organs, people’s procuratorates, people’s courts, and judicial administrative departments shall designate special institutions or special personnel who have received special training and are familiar with the physical and psychological characteristics of juveniles to be responsible for the prevention of juvenile delinquency.
Article 8 The communist youth leagues, women’s federations, labor unions, disabled persons’ federations, working committees for the care of the next generation, youth federations, students’ federations, young pioneers and relevant social organizations shall assist the people’s governments at all levels and their relevant departments, people’s procuratorates, and people’s courts in effectively preventing juvenile delinquency, and cultivate social forces and provide support and services for the prevention of juvenile delinquency.