China is shocked by the killing of girls

China has been rocked by a series of shocking murders of girls as young as twelve.

Often criminals are sent to mental institutions for only a few years. In one case, the New York Post reported, a murderer was allowed to return to school shortly after committing the crime.

As China struggles to hold children accountable for heinous crimes, victims’ parents wait for justice that never comes.

Gong Junli, whose eight-year-old daughter was stabbed to death by a 13-year-old boy, is among grieving parents hoping the Supreme People’s Court will sentence their child’s killer to prison. Kang Junli’s case made headlines in March when prosecutors decided to file charges against the teenager who allegedly stabbed the girl to death in September 2022 in the woods outside the Changchun megacity. The boy dragged the girl into the forest and stabbed the eight-year-old boy several times.

Investigators said the 13-year-old boy prepared knives, machetes, disposable gloves, plastic ropes and other tools for the murder. According to media reports, the teenager showed no remorse for his actions.

In 2021, China lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to twelve. However, unlike in the United States, children are not sent to detention centers, and adult sentences are rarely imposed for murder. A similar case happened last year in which a four-year-old girl was killed by a twelve-year-old boy because they often quarreled over toys. The case was dismissed due to the boy’s age.

Between 2020 and 2023, prosecutors filed charges against 243,000 juveniles, a five percent increase in cases annually. China’s Supreme People’s Court recently announced that it had issued sentences against 12,000 juveniles in the first three months of 2024.

The court issued new guidelines to prevent juvenile delinquency and suggested that courts could hold parents and guardians responsible for the behavior of their children. A third of violent offenders are from disadvantaged or single-parent families.

The spate of violence has prompted many parents to return home and focus on raising their children out of trouble. The Supreme People’s Court has called on communities to work together and identify problems early.

“Joint efforts by schools, families, community organizations and government agencies are vital and necessary to combat bullying and identify the problem at an early stage,” the court said.