China lowers criminal liability age to 12 years

• China on Sunday lowered the age of criminal liability for certain serious crimes from the previous 14 years to 12 years.

• This moves comes amidst the country trying to look to combat and reduce juvenile crime committed by children.

• Under the new amended law, now children aged from 12-14 years will be held criminally accountable for intentional homicide or intentional injury- that leads to death or causes a severe disability.

• The amendment was passed on Saturday by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress will come into immediate effect.