A new regulation on juvenile crime jointly drawn up by
legislators and students will take effect in Guangdong Province in a few weeks.
Eleven teenage students helped draft the Guangdong Provincial
Regulations on Preventing Juvenile Delinquency which the Guangdong
Provincial People's Congress passed earlier this month. It'll come
into force at the beginning of 2007.
It's hoped the statute will help tackle juvenile crimes, said
Wang Xudong, director of the Legal Affairs Committee of the
Guangdong Provincial People's Congress.
The new bill marks the first time that school pupils have been
invited to participate in drafting legislation in a province where
the juvenile crime rate is fairly high.
The regulations bar the broadcast of cartoon programs on local
television stations between 5-8 PM.?Horror-themed programs,
violent films and TV series will be banned from local screens 24
hours a day.
Both parents and guardians should take responsibility for
preventing juvenile crimes, according to the rules. At the same
time the regulations prevent schools from dismissing student or
otherwise encouraging them to drop out.
Residents of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, have
welcomed the new regulations.
Chen Dongyun, the mother of a 12-year-old boy, said she believed
the statute would reduce Guangdong Province's high juvenile crime
rate. "It will help regulate the daily behavior of children and
prevent them from becoming bad," Chen told China Daily
yesterday.
Criminal cases involving juvenile delinquents have been on the
rise in Guangzhou in recent years.
(China Daily December 11, 2006)