No death penalty or life imprisonment for juvenile offenders

(Dan Tri) - The Law on Juvenile Justice stipulates that life imprisonment or the death penalty shall not be imposed on juvenile offenders; imprisonment shall only be applied when other penalties and measures are deemed ineffective.

On the morning of November 30, the National Assembly passed the Law on Juvenile Justice with 461/463 deputies in favor (accounting for 96.24% of the total number of National Assembly deputies). The law consists of 5 parts with 10 chapters and 179 articles, and will take effect from January 1, 2026. Clause 2, Article 12 of the law stipulates the application of penalties, stating that the Court will only apply penalties to minors who commit crimes if it is deemed that the application of diversionary measures does not ensure educational and preventive effectiveness. In cases where penalties must be applied, priority will be given to warnings, fines, non-custodial reform, and suspended prison sentences.

National Assembly deputies vote to pass the law at the 8th session (Photo: Pham Thang).

The law also stipulates that "No life imprisonment or death penalty shall be imposed on juvenile offenders". The court shall only impose a fixed-term prison sentence on juvenile offenders when it is deemed that other penalties and measures do not have a deterrent or preventive effect. When imposing a fixed-term prison sentence, the court shall give the juvenile offender a lighter sentence than the sentence applied to the corresponding adult offender and for the shortest appropriate period. The measure of diversion is an important content stated in many provisions of the law. The law clearly states that the concept of "diversion measure" is a measure of supervision, education, and prevention applied to juvenile offenders, including measures of diversion in the community and measures of education at reform schools. Chapter III of the law stipulates measures for diversion, which clearly states the cases in which diversion measures are applied, including: - Persons from 14 to under 16 years old who commit very serious crimes as prescribed by the Penal Code, except for the cases specified in Clause 1 and Clause 3, Article 38 of this Law - Persons from 16 to under 18 years old who commit very serious crimes unintentionally, commit serious crimes or commit less serious crimes as prescribed by the Penal Code, except for the cases specified in Clause 2 and Clause 3, Article 38 of this Law - Minors who are accomplices with an insignificant role in the case. Minors from 14 to under 16 years old are not subject to diversion measures if they commit very serious crimes in one of the following crimes: murder, rape, rape of a person under 16 years old, rape of a person from 13 to under 16 years old, illegal production of narcotics. People who commit very serious crimes twice or more or commit many very serious crimes; or commit especially serious crimes, will not be subject to diversion measures.

Chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee Le Thi Nga (Photo: Hong Phong).

Minors from 16 to under 18 years old shall not be subject to diversion measures if they commit serious crimes in one of the following crimes: rape, illegal production - storage - trading - transportation and appropriation of narcotics. In cases of recidivism, dangerous recidivism; serious crimes committed intentionally twice or more or many serious crimes intentionally; very serious crimes intentionally or especially serious crimes, diversion measures shall not be subject to diversion measures. In addition, the law also stipulates that diversion measures shall not be applied to "minors who have been subject to diversion measures but commit new crimes". Previously, presenting a report explaining and accepting the draft Law, Chairwoman of the Judicial Committee Le Thi Nga said that there were opinions suggesting expanding some crimes and some cases that do not allow minors to be subject to diversion measures. The Standing Committee of the National Assembly believes that adding more cases where redirection is not allowed will significantly increase the criminal responsibility of minors compared to the current regulations. Therefore, it is recommended that the National Assembly maintain its stance of not adding more cases where redirection is not allowed, which will be disadvantageous and will increase the criminal responsibility of minors compared to the current regulations.

Regarding the physical conditions of prisons (Article 162), Ms. Nga said that there were opinions suggesting that only the model of "sub-camps or separate detention areas in prisons for juvenile prisoners" be prescribed to ensure feasibility. The Standing Committee of the National Assembly said that currently, the number of juveniles serving sentences in prisons is not large, but they are arranged in many prisons across the country. Notably, there are prisons with only about 20 juvenile prisoners, making it difficult to arrange cultural and vocational training, as well as meeting the specific requirements for juveniles. Therefore, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly proposed to amend Clause 1, Article 162 of the draft law in the direction of prescribing 3 models to choose from: separate prisons, sub-camps or detention areas reserved for juveniles in prisons. The choice of which model has been assigned by the Law to the Minister of Public Security and the Minister of National Defense based on the actual situation to decide.