Fewer Juvenile Arrests Approved; Migrants Bear Brunt of Charges

Judge reads the suspended sentence verdict to juvenile offenders. Credit: Yunnan Qujin People's Congress, March 2015

The Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) recently held a press conference announcing new figures that show “strict adherence” to the policy of reducing juvenile arrests and indictments, and a startlingly high percentage of migrants among juveniles charged. About 27 percent of juvenile arrests and seven percent of juvenile indictments were not approved in 2014, compared with 18 percent and five percent, respectively, in 2012 (see chart below).

Prosecution of Juveniles in China, 2012-2014

	Arrests not approved	Indictments not approved
2012	17.51%	5.18%
2013	25.23%	6.65%
2014	26.66%	7.34%

Source: Supreme People’s Procuratorate, Dui Hua

The SPP made no mention of sentencing outcomes for indicted juveniles, but a source with knowledge of the data told Dui Hua that non-custodial sentences were given to 40.24 percent of juveniles who went to trial in 2014. This compares to 41.75 percent (including those who were exempted from punishment) in 2012, as reported by the Supreme People’s Court Research Office, and 35.56 percent in 2010, according to the official compendium China Juvenile Justice (zhongguo shaonian sifa). In 2010, the majority, or 84.81 percent, of juveniles who received non-custodial punishments or exemptions were given suspended sentences. Fines were the next most common punishment at 5.96 percent, followed by exemption from punishment (5.43 percent) and public surveillance (3.80 percent).

Since a section on juvenile cases was included in the amended Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) that went into effect in 2013, more than 40 percent of juveniles going to trial each year have received non-custodial sentences. Sources indicate, however, that this percentage dipped in 2014 compared to 2013 and 2012. This may be partially explained by the fact that drafts of the proposed CPL amendments were made public as early as 2011. Judicial organs at various levels likely began increasing non-custodial measures for juveniles in 2012 and early gains may have exceeded those of later interventions.

A decline in the percentage of non-custodial sentences may also be due to the fact that, in 2014, 74.84 percent of indicted juveniles were migrants. Juveniles whose hukou, or household registration, is outside the place where they commit an offense are less likely to receive non-custodial sentences for myriad reasons. These include inability to offer compensation; monitoring organizations that refuse migrants; and difficulty finding guardians, which leads to lengthy detention periods bordering on excessive punishment.

In Zhejiang, a province outdone only by Guangdong in its number of migrant workers, juvenile offenders received non-custodial sentences in fewer than 25 percent of cases in both 2009 and 2014. In Liaoning Province, with a much smaller migrant population, nearly 55 percent of juvenile offenders received non-custodial sentences in 2009. The figure increased to 58.76 percent, almost 20 points above the national average, in 2014.

Another factor at play could be the concentration of violent offenses. In 2014, the most common offenses committed by juveniles across China were theft (29.3 percent), robbery (20.73 percent), intentional assault (15.57 percent), picking quarrels and provoking trouble (7.64 percent), and affray (7.35 percent). Drug offenses, rape, and forcible seizure also accounted for a relatively large number of crimes. Due to public safety concerns, people who commit violent crime are less likely to receive non-custodial sentences.

The SPP also announced that juvenile offenders are getting younger, with an uptick in offenses among 14- to 16-year-olds. The young age of juveniles in conflict with the law may have contributed to decisions not to approve arrests and indictments. It also underscores the growing importance of records sealing.

NGO Law Threatens Support for Reform

Dui Hua held an exchange on the topic with the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and judges from 12 Chinese provinces and municipalities in October 2014. As it stands, the Chinese government appears to be closing the door on these kinds of exchanges, which have the potential to assist homegrown initiatives to improve rights protections for Chinese citizens. The amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law that went into effect in 2013 were the first revisions to that law in 16 years and were greatly facilitated by domestic and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Among these NGOs, Dui Hua held juvenile justice exchanges with the SPC in 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014. Concepts proposed during the exchanges were incorporated into the amended law.

The impending passage of the foreign NGO management law now threatens to regulate exchanges like these into extinction, taking with them tangible benefits to the Chinese people. The draft law has also been criticized extensively for the large cost it could bring to domestic Chinese NGOs and China’s general populace. In its current form, the law offers little but a lose-lose situation for China and its achievements in human rights.

More People Say China Doesn’t Respect Human Rights: Global Poll

Hundreds of protesters march in Istanbul on July 5 against Beijing's policies towards the Muslim Uyghur minority. Source: AP

Chinese diplomats often assert that progress on human rights in China has been remarkable and is plain to see. The results of a recent survey by the Pew Research Center call this rosy assessment into question. In country after country, including China’s top trading partners, big majorities see human rights in China as bad and getting worse.

Since 2013, the year Xi Jinping assumed China’s presidency, the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes project has conducted a one-of-its-kind survey that asks whether the Chinese government respects the individual liberties of its people. Over the last three years, Pew has polled more than 120,000 individuals in 49 countries. People in 34 of these countries were surveyed in all three years of Xi’s presidency. Pew conducted the latest survey in 40 countries from May 25–27, 2015; the results were released on June 23.

"Does the government of China respect the personal freedoms of its people?" (Global median)

Sources: Pew Research Center, Dui Hua.

The survey finds a sharp deterioration in international opinion towards the Chinese government’s human rights record since the last survey of 43 countries in 2014. The poll poses the question: “Does the government of China respect the personal freedoms of its people?” In 2015, the global median responses for “Yes” and “No” showed an 11-point spread (34 percent “Yes” and 45 percent “No”), compared to a four-point spread in 2014 (36 percent “Yes” and 40 percent “No”). Of the 35 countries surveyed in both years, 23 registered an increase in the percentage of “No” responses, while 15 tallied an increase in the percentage of “Yes” responses. (Some countries showed increases in both the “Yes” and “No” results.)

Between 2014 and 2015, the median percentage of people who said that the Chinese government does not respect the personal freedoms of its people increased in every geographic area surveyed.

"Does the government of China respect the personal freedoms of its people?"
(Median percentage saying "No" by region, 2014-2015)

Sources: Pew Research Center, Dui Hua

Attitudes towards China’s human rights record are particularly bad in Western Europe, North America, Northeast Asia, and Australia. In France, 93 percent replied that the Chinese government does not respect the personal freedoms of its citizens. In Germany 92 percent held that view, as did 88 percent in Spain. In the United States, the percentage of those who say that China does not respect the personal freedoms of its people rose steadily to 84 percent in 2015, from 71 percent in 2013, and 78 percent in 2014. Responses in the United Kingdom show a similar trend.

In Italy, South Korea, Japan, and Australia, eight in ten or more of respondents in 2015 indicated that China lacks respect for personal freedoms.

One of the biggest shifts in opinion took place in Turkey, where the percentage of those who said that China does not respect the personal freedoms of its people rose to 58 percent in 2015 from 38 percent in 2014.

While opinions towards China’s human rights record in Latin America turned largely negative, the Pew survey found a staggering 31 percentage point increase in the percentage of Chileans—from 20 percent in 2014 to 51 percent in 2015—who said that China does respect its people’s personal freedoms. Other countries that registered double-digit improvements in perceptions of China’s human rights record were Pakistan (up 13 points), the Philippines (up 11 points), and Nigeria (up 13 points).

One is left to speculate on why there has been such a sharp deterioration in China’s human rights image overall. In some countries, especially those engaged in territorial disputes with China, geopolitical factors might be at play. Countries with large Christian populations may have been affected by reports of church demolitions. In Turkey, China’s suppression of the economic, social, and cultural rights of Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim ethnic group of Xinjiang, has almost certainly played a role in the dramatic fall of China’s image. (Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti was sentenced to life in prison for splittism in September 2014, and protests over China’s treatment of Uyghurs erupted in Istanbul in early July 2015.) Countries that value the rule of law may have been repelled by the increase in the jailing and beating of lawyers and human rights defenders. Beijing’s refusal to show flexibility in its dealings with Hong Kong protesters over political reforms and the, at least initially, heavy-handed police response to the protests were widely reported. Foreign journalists in China, many of whom complain of their treatment at the hands of Chinese authorities, not surprisingly, focus on reporting negative stories.

On the other hand, the Chinese government’s effort to counter the country’s negative image has been feckless and episodic. Perhaps its biggest achievement in human rights in recent years is its sharp reduction in the number of executions. The government rarely highlights this feat, and when it does, omits specific figures, which it chooses to classify as state secrets.