In a bid to tackle juvenile crime Guangdong Province is preparing to ban violent television programs from local airwaves and prohibiting schools from dismissing students.

 

Juvenile crime has been on the rise in the provincial capital of Guangzhou in recent years.

 

Courts there passed sentences on 514 juvenile offenders in 1998. That number grew to 935 in 2001; 1,584 in 2004 and 1,233 in the first nine months of 2005. The cases have involved crimes like robbery, theft, assault, rape, fighting and public disturbances.

 

The Guangdong Provincial People's Congress is currently in the process of passing the new rules, known as the Guangdong Provincial Regulations on Preventing Juvenile Delinquents, which are designed to combat the trend. The congress is currently reviewing the third draft of the regulations and expects to pass them before the end of the year.

 

Wang Xudong, director of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, said the regulations would prohibit local television stations from broadcasting cartoons between 5 PM and 8 PM. They will also ban films and TV series that feature violent or horrifying content. "The regulations clearly stipulate that parents and other guardians of children are obliged to help prevent juvenile crimes," said Wang.

 

Officials have blamed the crime wave on the violent or horrifying material appearing in some films and television series. Programs about triads and other underworld organizations, many of them made in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and foreign countries, have been the particular focus of criticism.

 

Beyond policing television screens the new regulations will also prohibit elementary and junior high schools from dismissing students or persuading them to quit school. "Offenders will be seriously punished," Wang said.

 

The regulations also represent the first time that local children have been involved in the creation of provincial rules. Eleven local high school students, aged between 13 and 18, have participated in the drafting and review of the regulations in recent months.

 

Residents of Guangzhou have welcomed the new regulations. Wang Zhida, a local lawyer, said the they'd help cut down on the number of juvenile crimes in the province.

 

Huang Zhiliang, a local office worker and the father of a 9-year-old daughter, said the new rules would improve the behavior of the young generation. "And it will contribute to children's well-being," he said yesterday.

 

(China Daily November 29, 2006)