Vietnam’s First Juvenile Court to Debut in HCMC in April

Violence in school in Vietnam at alarming level

Violence in school in Vietnam at alarming level

The court will run on a trial basis dealing with offenders under 18 years old, before being expanded to other provinces and cities, Truong Hoa Binh, chief of the Supreme People’s Court, said at a meeting last week.

by Vu Quoc Ngu, March 24, 2016

Vietnam will establish its first juvenile court in Ho Chi Minh City next month in a bid to improve its justice system and handle cases of young offenders better, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported Wednesday.

The court will run on a trial basis dealing with offenders under 18 years old, before being expanded to other provinces and cities, Truong Hoa Binh, chief of the Supreme People’s Court, said at a meeting last week.

Chu Thanh Quang, deputy chief of Legal Affairs Department of the Supreme People’s Court, said that the establishment of the new court shows Vietnam’s commitment to protecting child rights in accordance with international conventions.

It also marks an important event in Vietnam’s ongoing efforts to improve its justice system, Quang said, adding the court will be “friendly” with children who attend hearings either as victims or defendants.

While statistics on juvenile crimes in Vietnam are sketchy and not up to date, local media reported last year that underage offenders accounted for more than 16% of criminals charged around the country between 2009 and June 2014.

Battery and robbery were the most common offenses among Vietnamese young people according to the center for criminal studies under the Hanoi-based Vietnamese People’s Police Academy.

On the other hand, new figures released by the Ministry of Public Security showed 9,920 children were victimized in more than 8,200 cases of abuse discovered over the past five years, local media reported early this year.

Up to 65% of the victims were sexually assaulted, according to the reports.

The age of criminal responsibility in Vietnam is 14, but children between 14 and 16 years old can only be prosecuted on a case-by-case basis if they deliberately commit “very serious” crimes.