VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES L NGUYEN GIA VIEN IMPOSING PUNISHMENT ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS UNDER THE VIETNAMESE CRIMINAL LAW IN SOC TRANG PROVINCE Major: Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Major code: 9.38.01.04 SUMMARY OF THE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION IN LAW Hanoi - 2019 The dissertation completed at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences Supervisor: Prof Dr Ho Trong Ngu Reviewer 1: Assoc Prof Dr Tran Dinh Nha Reviewer 2: Assoc Prof Dr Cao Thi Oanh Reviewer 3: Dr Tran Cong Pham The dissertation will be defended at Graduate Academy Level Council of dissertation assessment at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, 477 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi Time: ………… date ……… month …… …year 2019 The dissertation may be found at: - Vietnam National Library; - Graduate Academy of Social Sciences Library INTRODUCTION The necessity of the research topic Soc Trang Province is one of the provinces in the Mekong Delta, located at the furthest end of the lower Hau River Soc Trang has the coastal line of 72km in length with large estuaries of Tran De, Bassac and Dinh An, the whole province has about 1,321,000 people (with ethnic groups: Kinh, Hoa and Khmer, the Khmer people accounting for 30% of population of the province) Juvenile offenders are increasing and in fact there are still many inadequacies in imposing punishment on them due to the inconsistent awareness and application of reasoning and provisions of the law, especially the efficiency of mechanism ensures to implement properly these provisions There is not unification in applying provisions of the law for imposing punishment on juveniles who committing many crimes in trial Although the unclear, not specific and inconsistent points of the 1999 Penal Code were amended, the provisions of the 2015 Penal Code amended and supplemented in 2017 have not met humanization, differentiation and internationalization of criminal law in general and imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in particular Statistics of the first-instance trial at the People’s Court of Soc Trang Province (9 years, from the amended Criminal Code 2009 until the end of 2018) show an average of 494 cases per year, of which, juveniles were judged to be 36.7 cases, accounting for 7.44%, with 43.5 defendants, accounting for 5.68% In fact, the first-instance trial of juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province also shows a lot of inadequacies and limitations that have greatly affected the implication of punishment on juvenile offenders in Soc Trang over the past years In order to reduce the above limitations and inadequacies, it is necessary to have an intensive research work Therefore, the author chose the research work titled “Imposing punishment on juvenile offenders under the Vietnamese criminal law in Soc Trang province” as his doctoral dissertation Research purpose and tasks 2.1 Research purpose The dissertation aims to clarify the theoretical issues, the reality of the law and practice of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province, it then proposes solutions to correctly impose punishment on juvenile offenders in general and in Soc Trang province in particular 2.2 Research tasks To fulfill the above purposes, the dissertation addresses the following tasks: - Analyzing concept and characteristics of juvenile offenders; the concept and characteristics of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders; contents and meaning of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders and factors affecting the imposition of punishment on juvenile offenders - Analyzing the reality of the provisions of the law and practice of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in Soc Trang over the years, thenceforth, the study finds out inadequacies, limitations of the law and the causes of these limitations and inadequacies, and the law enforcement in practice - On the basis of theoretical and practical research results, the author proposes solutions to properly impose punishment on juvenile offenders in the coming years Research subject and scope 3.1 Research subject By examining theoretical and practical issues, the law and solutions of ensuring the law enforcement on the imposition of punishment on juvenile offenders in Soc Trang Therefore, the dissertation utilizes scientific perspectives, legal regulations and to properly impose punishment on juvenile offender in practice to examine issues in the research contents of the dissertation 3.2 Research scope - The dissertation is studied by perspectives of criminal law and criminal procedure - Spatially, the study examines the practice of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province - Regarding time, the study uses statistics from 2010 to the end of 2018 Methodology and research methods 4.1 Methodology: in order to clarify issues that need to be studied, the dissertation based on dialectical and historical materialism, Marxist-Leninist viewpoints and Ho Chi Minh thought on crimes and punishments; thoroughly grasp the lines and policies of the Communist Party of Vietnam on the construction of the Vietnamese rule-of-law state 4.2 Research methods: the author utilizes many research methods such as surveys, analysis, synthesis, systematic method, comparison, specific historical method, statistics; contact and exchange directly with researchers, as well as direct interviews with juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province New contributions of the dissertation First, the dissertation contributes to clarify the theoretical basis for imposing punishment on juvenile offenders Second, the dissertation analyzes the provisions of the existing criminal law on the imposition of punishment on juvenile offenders in Vietnam Third, the dissertation clarifies the issues of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province, thenceforth, it finds out inadequacies, limitations and causes of those inadequacies and limitations in the provisions of the law when applying in practice Fourth, the dissertation seeks to analyze, compare and assess the development trend of criminal law on the imposition of punishment on juvenile offenders in the world today, since then it proposes recommendations for better implementation of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in the coming years The dissertation is a direct and comprehensive research work on imposing punishment on juvenile offenders under the Vietnamese criminal law so as to introduce scientific arguments, requirements and theoretical and practical solutions to improve the provisions of the law on imposing punishment on juvenile offenders as a premise for a law enforcement mechanism to ensure the imposition of punishment on juvenile offenders in areas like Soc Trang province The dissertation is a valuable scientific work for researching, teaching and learning about the imposition of punishment on juvenile offenders under the Vietnamese criminal law Theoretical and practical significance of the dissertation As a scientific research work on imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province, the dissertation contributes to supplementing the theoretical issues on imposing punishment on juvenile offenders; analysis approach and assessing the practice of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders and then it proposes solutions to ensure the imposition of punishment on juvenile offenders in the coming years The dissertation can be seen as reference for issuing regulations and applying the provisions of the criminal law for imposing punishment on juvenile offenders, as well as for researching, studying and teaching on criminal law Structure of the dissertation Besides the introduction and conclusion, the dissertation includes chapters: Chapter 1: Literature review Chapter 2: The theoretical issues of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders Chapter 3: The reality of the law and the practice of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province Chapter 4: The posing requirements in imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in the coming years and enforceable solutions Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Foreign research situation The issue of juveniles, the juvenile offenders and imposing punishment on juvenile offenders is increasingly examined by scientists By reviewing foreign research works we found that some studies have a quite wide research scope, mainly clarify the concept of minors, juveniles in conflict with the law, minimum age of criminal responsibility of juveniles in the context of complex and diverse society by regulations, social norms, social factors, population policies, conception of juvenile offenders Some studies have referred reasons for establishing courts for juveniles, measures to handle friendly juvenile offenders, and analyzing juvenile offenders from perspective of sociology, criminology, psychology, biology but without resolving the issue of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders Most of the research works have mentioned juvenile offenders but have not examined intensively the imposition of punishment on juvenile offenders Some studies have become outdated, no longer suitable to the situation of juvenile offenders today Therefore, it is necessary to continue studying and proposing solutions to ensure the correct imposition of punishments on juvenile offenders 1.2 Domestic research situation The issue of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders is also increasingly concerned by Vietnamese jurist In recent years, therefore, there have been many studies related to juveniles, juvenile offenders and imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in Vietnam By reviewing literature of imposing punishment and imposing punishment on juvenile offenders at home country, we found that, these studies have analyzed quite intensively concepts, characteristics, principles of handling juvenile offenders, the provisions of the criminal law on imposing punishment on juvenile offenders, to clarify grounds for deciding penalties, synthesize penalties, exempting or reducing penalties, suspended sentences and spent convictions In addition, these studies have also mentioned the shortcomings and limitations of the current law when applying punishment in practice, and proposed recommendations for completing such inadequacies and limitations By reviewing literature, we also found that there have not been any research works related to imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province so far This area has many ethnic Hoa and Khmer living, so there are many distinctive characteristics in terms of economy, culture, society, health, education, customs and practices The situation of security and order in the locality is very complicated, the handling of juvenile offenders is also very difficult, not similar to other areas, so the imposition of punishment on them must be based on the lenient and humane policies of our Party and State, associated with the psycho-physiological characteristics of juveniles on the basis of inclining to the good, mainly educate and help them to correct mistakes, healthy development and become a useful citizen for society Therefore, the dissertation is the first research work on the theoretical issues of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders; the reality of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province so as to assess and point out the shortcomings and limitations when applying penalties Thenceforth, the study proposes solutions to ensure to properly impose punishment on juvenile offenders in the coming years 1.3 The issues need to be further examined in this dissertation By reviewing literature, we found that the implication of punishment on juvenile offenders has not been examined intensively and comprehensively, so it is necessary to further examine the following issues: - The study further clarifies the theoretical and legal basis of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders In which, analyzing and clarify the concepts and characteristics of juveniles and juvenile offenders; Contents, characteristics and handling principles of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders; the criminal law adjustment; factors affecting the implication of punishment on juvenile offenders; mechanism for ensuring proper implication of punishment on juvenile offenders in the reality - To further clarify physical-mental characteristics and psychophysiology with or without punishment, principles of handling goodwill, and alternative measures for criminal handling to juvenile offenses and criminal policies related to the implication of punishment on juvenile offenders - Analyzing and clarifying the limitations and shortcomings in imposing punishment on juvenile offenders, and pointing out the causes of such limitations and shortcomings and proposing recommendations - Analyzing and clarifying the practice of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders, thus contributing to better application of criminal law policy for them 2.1.2 Adjusting the law on the imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders In society, in order to maintain social relations, the State uses many different adjustment tools such as laws, practices, ethics, public opinion, etc., in which, the law is a particularly important regulatory tool Adjusting the law for social relations is essentially the implementation of the law’s impact on social relations Such impact often occurs in two directions that are appropriate and inconsistent with the social development rules In the process of adjusting the provisions of the law on the imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders, the Court must strictly comply rules: if no measures are able to apply to tolerate them, they just must be penalized; absolutely avoid imposing punishments that restrict juvenile’s freedom 2.2 Concept, characteristics and contents of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders 2.2.1 Concept of the imposition of punishment to juvenile offenders The imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders is defined as the court’s choice of specific punishments for offenders when they are under the age of 18 years by provisions of criminal law to be commensurate with the nature and extent of danger to society, as well as characteristics of juveniles and specific policy of the law towards them 2.2.2 Characteristics of the imposition of punishment to juvenile offenders 11 In addition to the basic characteristics of the imposition of punishments, juvenile offenders also have a number of specific characteristics as follows: First, according to the Penal Code, juvenile offenders, especially those between the age of 14 and below 16, are only imposed criminal liability for certain offenses and punishments are imposed upon them to be framed in such cope only Second, juvenile offenders are just imposed certain punishments rather than all punishments stipulated by the Penal Code According to the Penal Code, they are not imposed the following punishments: life imprisonment, death and additional penalties Third, juvenile offenders under the same condition, the imposition of punishment to them must be less than that of adults Fourth, the Court may apply other judicial measures or exempt punishments If the court cannot apply other judicial measures or exempt punishments for juvenile offenders, the court shall apply a lighter punishment than adults who have committed the same crime 2.2.3 Principles of imposing punishment on juvenile offenders When imposing punishment on juvenile offenders, the Court must rely on the following general principles: Socialist legislative principles; Socialist principles of humanity; Principles of individualization of penalties; Fair principles In addition to the general principles, juveniles are also imposed specific principles stipulated by Article 91 of the 2015 Penal Code 2.2.4 Contents of the imposition of punishment to juvenile offenders The imposition of punishment to juvenile offenders has contents of law application The imposition of punishment to juvenile 12 offenders is a process includes: identifying the legal event that needs to impose punishment; Awareness of the law on the imposition of punishment; Comparing case details with the provisions of the criminal law and deciding to impose punishment; Issuing decision of imposing punishments; Executing the decision of imposing punishments 2.3 Factors affecting the imposition of punishment to juvenile offenders 2.3.1 Socio-economic situation Over the past years, the implementation of innovation launched by the Party and State, our country’s socio-economic situation has been gradually stable and growth, the people’s material and spiritual life has been increasing In addition to the achieved results, the dark side of the market economy has led to the increasingly complicated situation of crime in our country, which tends to increase both in quantity and organizational structure, its nature is getting more serious and dangerous Juvenile offenders account for a higher proportion than adult offenders, many particularly serious cases involving many people, of which, the cases headed by juveniles have caused serious socio-economic damage for many people, families and offenders themselves 2.3.2 The State’s policies on child protection and take care Protection, care and education of children are always concerned by the Party and the State, and as one of the top priority policies to ensure social security, for the goal of stable and long-term development of the country This policy also needs to be considered when deciding punishments for juvenile offenders 2.3.3 Criminal law policy for juvenile offenders 13 Juvenile offenders are also entitled by a specific criminal policy, due to the humanitarian tradition and psycho-physiological characteristics of this age group, with the goal of inclining to the good for a healthy young generation Thereby, this has a great impact on the imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders and limiting the prevention and fighting against crimes Contents and views of criminal policies for juvenile offenders must be expressed when deciding punishments for them 2.3.4 The quality of punishments imposed by the criminal justice system Criminal law and criminal procedure play a very important role in ensuring the quality of punishments imposed on juvenile offenders by the Court The Criminal Procedure Code stipulates the order and procedure of proceedings during the process of the investigation, prosecution, adjudication, and judgment execution, in which, the Court must ensure the principle that everyone is equal before the law, when hearing criminal cases, Judges and Jurors are independent All judgments of the Court must rely on litigation results at the trial, to assess fully, objectively and comprehensively evidences of the cases, opinions of procurators and proceeding participants to make a deterrent, educational, persuasive and feasible judgment 2.3.5 Qualifications and competencies of judges, jurors and other judicial titles In order to select and apply the correct punishments by the provisions of the law, the Judge and juror must have good moral qualities and steady professional qualifications In which, Judges play a very important role in fulfilling the Court’s political duties through the trial, the Court’s trial quality almost entirely depends on the 14 Judges, especially in imposing punishment on juvenile offenders Therefore, it is necessary to improve the political and professional qualifications of the judges In addition, it is also necessary to uphold responsibility and capacity of the Jurors and other judicial titles such as those who enforce judgments and criminal decisions of the Court in the trial and executing judgments to meet the requirements of the current innovation 2.3.6 Guiding the application of criminal law by competent agencies The guidance on the implementation and application of laws by competent agencies must ensure uniformity is very important in imposing punishments on juvenile offenders by trial panels, and overcoming arbitrary, subjective and inconsistent situations when issuing judgments and decisions in the application of penalties of courts at all levels in our country today 2.3.7 Prevention, investigation and handling juvenile offenders In order to make criminal policy for juvenile offenders, it is necessary to clarify the trends and developments of juvenile offenders in Vietnam in the coming years, this means that providing accurate and scientific forecasts on situation of juvenile offenders To take precautions against, investigation and handing juvenile offenders, all levels and branches must be proactive in making programs and plans, in which, clearly stating their objectives, solutions and specific measures to implement and solve the problem of crime in society At the same time, it is possible to forecast crimes in general and specific crimes in particular, including juvenile offenders to serve directly for planning of crime prevention, investigation and handling in the coming years 15 Chapter THE REALITY OF THE LAW AND THE PRACTICE OF IMPOSING PUNISHMENT ON JUVENILE OFFENDER IN SOC TRANG PROVINCE 3.1 The reality of the law on imposing punishment on juvenile offenders 3.1.1 Provisions of Vietnam’s criminal law on imposing punishment on juvenile offenders before issuing the 2015 Criminal Code 3.1.1.1 From the August Revolution in 1945 until the promulgation of the 1985 Criminal Code 3.1.1.2 From the promulgation of the 1985 Criminal Code to the promulgation of the 1999 Criminal Code 3.1.1.3 From the promulgation of the 1999 Penal Code to the promulgation of the 2015 Penal Code 3.1.2 Provisions of the existing criminal law on imposing punishments on juvenile offenders According to the existing law, the imposition of punishment on juvenile offenders is stipulated in Chapter XXVIII of the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code “Procedures for persons under the age of 18 years” and Chapter XII of the 2015 Criminal Code “Provisions for offenders under 18” When imposing penalties on them, the Court must base on the specific provisions of these two chapters If these two chapters not have provisions, the Court shall apply other chapters of these two Codes but not contravene the provisions of these two chapters Namely, punishments are imposed and not imposed on juvenile offenders as follows: 16 3.1.2.1 Punishments are imposed on juvenile offenders - Warning - Fines - Non-custodial sentences - Determinate imprisonment + For those between the age of 16 and below 18 when committing crimes + For those between the age of 14 and below 16 when committing crimes - Imposing a sentence upon a juvenile offender for preparation of a crime or unsuccessful crime - Imposing a sentence on juvenile offenders for multiple crimes - Imposing a suspended sentence upon juvenile offenders - Exemption from punishments and exemption from serving sentence on juvenile offenders - Reducing sentences on juvenile offenders - Sealing juvenile records 3.1.2.2 Punishments are not imposed on juvenile offenders - Life imprisonment - Death - Additional penalties - Fines: not impose fines on juvenile offenders between the age of 14 and below 16 3.2 The practical imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province 3.2.1 Results of imposing punishments on juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province in recent years 17 According to the statistics of the trial in the People’s Court of Soc Trang Province (since the 1999 Penal Code and amended in 2009 took effect until the end of 2018), an average of 494 cases a year, with 766 defendants, of which, juveniles are tried on average of 36.7 cases a year, accounting for 7.44% with 43.5 defendants, accounting for 5.68% All of 766 defendants were sentenced determinate imprisonment, without other punishments There were 448 cases to be reduced punishments and 15 cases were exempted from punishments The above statistics show that only one type of imprisonment is applied, and other punishments are not applied 3.2.2 Restrictions of the imposition of punishments to the juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province in recent years First, with their habit, Judges and Jurors always uphold the role of determinate imprisonment without imposing other punishments Second, less severe punishment has not yet been applied by Courts Third, the imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders in Soc Trang over the past years has been mainly imprisonment, not applying warning, fine and non-custodial sentences, and other judicial measures Fourth, before making the final judgment, the Court should collect all evidences to prove aggravating circumstances and mitigating criminal liability In fact, in many cases, Judges and Jurors have not attached much importance to the identification of legal events requires the application of laws, awareness and comparison of case details with legal provisions, leading to many unnecessary errors, causing frustration for the community Fifth, the reality shows that some Courts have not 18 accurately evaluated “nature and seriousness of crimes to the society” when deciding sentences 3.2.3 Causes of restrictions of the imposition of punishments to the juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province in recent years The imposition of punishments to the juvenile offenders is generally strict Psychologically, Judges and Jurors still have prejudices against juvenile offenders, considering them as bad elements of society Currently, Vietnam does not have a separate group of Judges who are trained with the necessary knowledge to grasp and understand psychology and educational sciences when hearing juvenile offenders The imposition of punishments to the juvenile offenders requires the Court to simultaneously apply the general provisions on criminal procedure and punishments in the Penal Code, as well as separate positions to juvenile offenders This might make difficulties while imposing punishments on juvenile offenders than adults Chapter THE POSING REQUIREMENTS IN IMPOSING PUNISHMENT ON JUVENILE OFFENDERS IN THE COMING YEARS AND ENFORCEABLE SOLUTIONS 4.1 The posing requirements in imposing punishment on juvenile offenders in the coming years 4.1.1 Implementation of the provisions of the 2013 Constitution Vietnam’s criminal policy stipulates “hearing juvenile offenders so as to educate and help them to correct mistakes, develop health and become useful citizens in community” There should be unified principle is that handling juvenile offenders by imposing punishment 19 of the court mainly aim to educate them being useful persons to the community and society It is necessary to determine that this is a long-term work that cannot achieve results overnight, so it requires the effort of many parties including offenders themselves, family and relevant agencies and unions 4.1.2 Ensuring the full and better implementation of human rights of juvenile offenders The provisions of the criminal law or punishment regime in the criminal law in the rule-of-law state are to protect human rights in general, especially the protection of human rights of juvenile offenders in particular It is the affirmation and recognition of the noble social values of people in a civilized society in order to avoid abusing arbitrarily by competent persons in the state public administration apparatus when performing their duties for unintentionally or intentionally taking advantage of their positions and powers to violate human rights in general and the rights of juvenile offenders in particular This viewpoint must be stipulated specifically in the criminal law and criminal proceedings in the implication of punishments and criminal liability to juveniles 4.1.3 To implement strictly policy of criminal hearing for juvenile offenders Implementing fully and properly policy of criminal hearing for juvenile offenders to prepare the way for whole process of implementing policy to attract the participation of all strata to realize common goals of our party and state in the field of criminal justice Thenceforth, strengthening the people’s trust to the struggle against crimes Thereby, the state forms the idea of basic objectives and measures in the criminal policy and solving problems of the policy to 20 introduce policy scenarios in order for competent authorities making policies 4.1.4 Continue to accelerate judicial reform and to early complete judicial institutions on juveniles Imposing punishment on juvenile offenders to meet the requirement of the socialist rule-of-law state, in accordance with the process of current judicial reform of our country that must ensure the principle of fairness, equality, humane and suitable to the way of handling juvenile offenders under the Party and State’s viewpoints; to meet the requirements of promoting the role of law and comply with the law in community; ensuring the principle of respecting and protecting human freedom and democracy, especially juveniles to meet the requirements of the fight against crimes in the current period 4.2 Solutions to the proper implication of punishments to juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province 4.2.1 Improving the provisions of the Penal Code on the criminal liability of juvenile offenders The Penal Code needs to issue lesser punishment than imprisonment for specific offenses to widely apply punishments such as warning, fine and non-custodial sentences in accordance with the principle of protecting juveniles It is necessary to supplement articles and clauses on probationary time for juvenile offenders are entitled to suspended sentences to be shorter than that of adult offenders It is necessary to amend the provisions on criminal liability waiver and applying alternative measures 21 4.2.2 Increasing awareness of officials, public servants of the judicial agencies in Soc Trang province on the imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders - Imposing punishments on juvenile offenders to strictly and properly handling types of crimes are gradually increasing in Soc Trang province - Must pay attention to the education and inspiration of juvenile offenders, creating conditions for them to correct mistakes and defects to become useful citizens of the society 4.2.3 Strengthening practical review of the imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province The 2015 Penal Code had new provisions that need to be guided by the Supreme People’s Court It is necessary to accelerate the guidance on the application of law and practical reviews to issue guiding resolutions and judicial precedent in the current period 4.2.4 Completing the friendly justice system for juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province - There should be a separate act on criminal proceedings for juveniles In which, having full provisions on proceedings to juvenile offenders, victims and juvenile witnesses but without applying general provisions for adults - It is necessary to recognize the principles of protecting the rights of children not to be violated by any illegal acts such as the right to keep secrets of private life, the right to identify of witnesses, and recognize the provisions of international law that Vietnam as its member - It is necessary to supplement the regulations on custody or temporary detention for juveniles is shorter than that of adults 22 4.2.5 Enhancing the capacity of Judges, Jurors and other judicial titles in applying and enforcing punishment to juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province Standardize judicial titles and strictly implement the process of appointment and reappointment of titles in accordance with the provisions of the law In the future, it is necessary to have mechanisms to attract, select and appoint professional judges who are only in charge of hearing criminal cases that defendants are juveniles 4.2.6 Enhancing intensively training for officials and public servants of judicial agencies in Soc Trang on the imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders It is necessary to regularly organize professional and intensive training on the imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders and continue to raise knowledge of officials The people’s judges must pay special attention to the selection of appropriate persons to hear criminal cases that victims or defendants are juvenile offenders 23 CONCLUSION Due to the limited capacity, the author has tried to comprehensively examine issues related to the dissertation and to further clarify the basic characteristics of juvenile offenders, the theoretical basis of issuing provisions on the imposition of punishments to them, the reality of criminal law on the imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders in Vietnam, the practical application of penalties for juvenile offenders in Soc Trang, thereby, the study has tried to point out inadequacies, limitations and its causes associated with the specific characteristics of juvenile offenders in Soc Trang province Thenceforth, the study has proposed recommendations to amend and supplement and improve provisions of criminal law and criminal proceedings on the imposition of punishment to juvenile offenders, as well as solutions to improve the quality of imposing punishments on juvenile offenders in general and in Soc Trang in particular From the research results mentioned above, the author wishes to partly contribute to improve the provisions of criminal law related to the imposition of punishments to juvenile offenders and enhancing the quality of imposing punishments on juvenile offenders by judicial agencies 24 The author’s published-research works Nguyen Gia Vien (2018) “Imposing non-custodial sentence on persons under the age of 18 who commit crimes and proposing recommendations”, Procuracy Magazine, No 18 (August 2018) Nguyen Gia Vien (2018) “Principles of imposing punishments on persons under the age of 18 who commit crimes”, Procuracy Magazine, No 20 (October 2018) 25 ... of Social Sciences, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, 477 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi Time: ………… date ……… month …… …year 2019 The dissertation may be found at: - Vietnam National Library;... Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences Supervisor: Prof Dr Ho Trong Ngu Reviewer 1: Assoc Prof Dr Tran Dinh Nha Reviewer 2: Assoc Prof Dr Cao Thi Oanh Reviewer 3: Dr Tran Cong... offenders under the Vietnamese criminal law in Soc Trang province” as his doctoral dissertation Research purpose and tasks 2.1 Research purpose The dissertation aims to clarify the theoretical issues,