"The country's current Criminal Law is mainly for adults," said Liu Hua at a two-day symposium that opened on Friday.

"It does not clarify the difference between punishments imposed on adults and minors, apart from stipulating that minors can't be given the death sentence in murder cases.

"Punishment used for adults is way too heavy for minors and it will not help them reform," Liu said, adding that education was important for law-breaking youngsters.

China has a population of 367 million under 18 years old.

"They represent the future of our country," said Gu Xiulian, vice-chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.

Juvenile crime is currently growing at a rate of 12 percent a year, according to Gu, and juveniles make up 9 to 10 percent of all criminals.

"We are seeing younger criminals who are conducting crimes of greater violence," she said.

In Shanghai, courts dealt with more than 1,500 criminal cases concerning minors last year and the number has increased this year.

"Minors are more impulsive and tend not to think about the consequence of their behaviour," said Zhang Jingmo, vice-president of Shanghai's Changning District People's Court. The court set up the country's first juvenile courtroom in 1984.

"Their motives are usually less vicious when they carry out a crime."

But the current Criminal Law only stipulates lenient sentences for less serious crimes.

"It does not really differentiate between adults and youngsters," said Wang Mu, director of the China Criminology Association.

"Crime committed by minors and adult crime are fundamentally different. Therefore the way to deal with them should be totally different," said Wang.

"It's not just a matter of the length of sentence."

Courts have been trying to adopt a different approach when dealing with younger suspects.

They are trying to include more education into sentences, but there is no standard law.

In Shanghai, four district courts have set up juvenile courtrooms to judge criminal cases involving people under 18.

The trial process runs from investigation to social rehabilitation afterwards.

"The judge will investigate how a suspect has grown up, who he or she hangs out with and will look into what led to the delinquency," Liu Hua said.

"And the jury team will consider the result of the investigation when they make a judgment."

(China Daily June 24, 2006)