纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英该严惩还是宽恕未成年人犯罪在中国引发痛苦争论

For nearly two years, Gong Junli has been waiting. Since his 8-year-old daughter, Xinyue, was stabbed multiple times and her body left in a grove of poplar trees in northwestern China, he has imagined her killer finally being brought to justice.

近两年的时间里，龚军利一直在等待。自从他八岁的女儿欣悦身中数刀，被抛尸在中国西北部的一片杨树林以来，他一直在想象凶手最终被绳之以法。

But justice is complicated when the accused is also a child.

但当被告也是一个未成年人时，司法公正就变得复杂起来。

The boy who the police say killed Xinyue was 13 years old at the time. As his trial opens on Wednesday, it will try to answer a question gripping Chinese society: How should China deal with young children accused of heinous crimes?

警方称，杀害欣悦的是一个当时只有13岁的男孩。周三开始的审判将试图回答一个困扰中国社会的问题：应该如何对待被控犯下恶劣罪行的未成年人？

Countries around the world have long struggled to balance punishment and forgiveness for children. But the debate is especially notable in China, where a history of relative leniency toward young offenders stands in stark contrast to the limited rights of adult criminal defendants. For decades, the government has emphasized educating and rehabilitating juvenile offenders, rather than imprisoning them.

长期以来，世界各国都在努力平衡对未成年人的惩罚和宽恕。但这场争论在中国尤为引人关注，因为它对未成年犯罪相对宽容的历史与成年刑事被告有限的权利形成了鲜明的对比。数十年来，政府一直强调对未成年犯罪者进行教育改造，而不是关进监狱。

Recently, though, a backlash has emerged. Following a spate of high-profile killings allegedly committed by children in recent years, many Chinese have called for the country to come down more harshly. And the government has responded. Xinyue’s killing is one of the first cases known to go to trial since the government lowered the age, to 12 from 14, at which children can be prosecuted on charges of murder and other serious crimes.

然而，最近出现了强烈的反对声音。近年来，未成年人杀人案频发，引起了社会的广泛关注。许多人呼吁国家采取更严厉的措施。国家也确实做出了回应。自政府将未成年故意杀人和其他严重罪行的刑事责任年龄从14岁降低至12岁以来，欣悦案是首批进入审判程序的案件之一。

Several incidents this year renewed the debate. In January, the police in central China dropped charges against a boy accused of killing a 4-year-old girl by pushing her into a manure tank, because he was under 12 and too young to be prosecuted, Chinese media reported. In March, the police said three 13-year-old boys near the city of Handan, also in central China, dug a grave in an abandoned greenhouse, took a classmate there and killed him. The boys were indicted soon after.

今年发生的几起案件重新引发了争论。据中国媒体报道，今年1月，中国中部某地警方撤销了对一名将四岁女孩推进粪缸致其死亡的男孩的指控，因为他作案时未满12岁，无刑事责任能力。3月，警方表示，同样位于中部的邯郸市附近的三名13岁少年在一个废弃温室里挖了一个墓穴，把一名同班同学带到那里并杀害了他。不久之后，这些男孩遭到起诉。

On Chinese social media, hashtags related to the Handan killing drew over a billion views in one day, with legal scholars and ordinary social media users alike calling for the perpetrators to be punished severely, even with death. Some suggested that young people were more willing to commit crimes because they knew they could not be legally punished. A professor of criminal law with over 30 million followers on Chinese social media accused those seeking to spare minors from punishment of “moral relativism.”

在中国社交媒体上，与邯郸杀人埋尸案有关的话题在一天内吸引了超过10亿的浏览量，法律学者和普通社交媒体用户都呼吁严惩肇事者，甚至判处死刑。一些人认为，年轻人因为知道自己不用承担法律责任而更愿意犯罪。一位在中国社交媒体上拥有3000多万粉丝的刑法学教授指责那些试图让未成年人免于惩罚的人是“道德相对主义”。

But others pointed to factors that may have pushed children toward crime, such as parental neglect or poverty. Many in China have worried that poor children in rural areas — who have been the accused in some of the highest-profile cases — are being abandoned as a price of economic progress. Many of those children are described as “left-behind,” because their parents leave them at home while they search for better jobs far away.

但也有人指出，父母教育缺失或者贫困因素也可能会导致未成年人走向犯罪。中国许多人担心，作为经济发展的代价，农村的贫困未成年人——他们是一些最引人注目的案件的被告——遭到了抛弃。许多这样的未成年人被称为“留守儿童”——父母远赴他乡寻找更好的工作，把他们留在老家。

As public pressure grew, the Supreme People’s Court last month issued new guidelines on preventing juvenile crime, including by potentially holding guardians responsible for their children’s actions.

随着公众压力增大，最高人民法院上个月发布了加强未成年人犯罪防治工作的意见，这份新的指导原则包括可能要求监护人对子女的行为负责。

It also announced that it had recently sentenced four children between 12 and 14 years old to prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years, its first acknowledgment of trials in that age group. The court, which said the children had committed unspecified violent offenses, said it sought to show “tolerance without indulgence.”

它还宣布审结此类案件四件四人，犯罪人年龄在12至13岁之间，被依法判处10至15年有期徒刑，这是首次承认对这个年龄段的未成年人进行审判。最高法表示，这些孩子犯下了未指明的暴力罪行，并表示它坚持“宽容不纵容”。

Mr. Gong said Xinyue was a sweet-tempered child who loved the cartoon “Paw Patrol” and eating mangoes and strawberries. On Sept. 25, 2022, her grandparents were watching her while Mr. Gong, a single father who worked in construction, was on a site more than 100 miles away. That afternoon, Mr. Gong’s father called to say that Xinyue was missing.

龚军利说，欣悦是个听话的孩子，喜欢看动画片《汪汪队立大功》，喜欢吃芒果和草莓。她平时跟着爷爷奶奶，在建筑行业工作的单亲父亲龚军利在一两百公里外的一个工地上班，事情发生在2022年9月25日。那天下午，龚军利的父亲打来电话说欣悦失踪了。

Mr. Gong raced back to their village, a poor community of about 40 households nestled amid terraced corn and potato fields in Gansu Province. By the time he arrived, Xinyue’s body had been found.

龚军利急忙赶回村子，那是甘肃省一个四周是玉米和土豆田、约有40户人家的贫困社区。当他赶到时，人们已经找到了欣悦的尸体。

The police arrested a 13-year-old neighbor. According to an indictment document shared by Mr. Gong, the boy, whom Mr. Gong said he had seen around but didn’t know well, had “developed hatred toward females,” because he was “unhappy with his mother’s disciplinary methods.” The boy had placed a knife in the tree grove, then led Xinyue there and stabbed her in the neck, the indictment said, citing physical evidence, witness testimony and the boy’s confession.

警方逮捕了一名13岁的邻居。龚军利提供的起诉书称，这名男孩因“不满其母的教育方式”，“逐渐对女性产生了仇视心理”。龚军利平时见过这个男孩，但对他并不熟悉。起诉书援引物证、证人证词和男孩的供词称，男孩在林地内放了一把刀，然后把欣悦带到那里，刺中她的脖子。

It is unclear whether the boy, who the indictment said was being held at a local jail, has had access to a lawyer. Rights activists have accused Chinese officials of sometimes extracting confessions under pressure. The local police and court declined requests for comment.

起诉书称，这名男孩被关押在当地的一所监狱里，目前尚不清楚他是否请了律师。维权人士指责中国的警方有时刑讯逼供。当地警方和法院拒绝了置评请求。

Several attempts to reach the boy’s parents were unsuccessful. A Chinese Communist Party-controlled news outlet, Red Star News, reported that it had interviewed his mother, identified as Ms. Chen. Ms. Chen did not say whether she believed her son had killed Xinyue, but she apologized and said she had offered compensation to Mr. Gong’s family.

我们数次试图联系男孩的父母未果。据中共控制的新闻机构红星新闻报道，记者采访了男孩的母亲陈女士。陈女士没有说她是否相信儿子杀了欣悦，但她做了道歉，并表示愿意赔偿受害者的家人。

Ms. Chen also said that her son had been bullied, once being forced by classmates to eat feces. And she acknowledged that she had beaten him over his studies.

陈女士还说，她的儿子此前也曾遭到校园欺凌，有一次被同学强迫吃大便。她承认，曾因他学习不好打过他。

After the boy’s arrest, Mr. Gong expected a quick resolution. But for over a year, prosecutors did not charge the boy. Mr. Gong also expected a death sentence, given the wide range of crimes that carry that penalty in China. Upon learning that the law prohibited the execution of minors, he was outraged.

男孩被捕后，龚军利原本指望案件会尽快了解。但等了一年多，检察官一直没有起诉这名男孩。他还指望对方被判处死刑，因为在中国，死刑适用的范围很广。在得知未成年人不适用死刑后，他感到愤怒。

The law claimed to protect minors, he said. But “has the child we lost been protected?”

他说，法律声称要保护未成年人。但“我们失去的小孩是不是没得到保护”？

China has long been considered relatively progressive on juvenile justice, more so than some Western countries, said Anqi Shen, a law professor at Northumbria University in England. International conventions recommend 12 as a minimum age for prosecution. China in the 1970s set its minimum age at 14. (In the United States, the minimum age of criminal responsibility varies by state, with most having no specified lower limit.)

英国诺森比亚大学法学教授沈安琪表示，长期以来，相较于一些西方国家而言，中国在未成年人司法方面一直被认为是相对进步的。国际公约建议将12岁作为起诉的最低年龄。中国在上世纪70年代将最低起诉年龄定为14岁。（美国各州对最低刑事责任年龄的规定不尽相同，多数州没有规定最低年龄。）

In recent years especially, Beijing has encouraged prosecutors to divert juvenile offenders to educational programs or community service. Studies worldwide show that imprisoning juvenile offenders does little to reduce recidivism. Between 2008 and 2022, the number of juvenile convictions plummeted by nearly 70 percent.

尤其是在近年来，中国政府鼓励检察官将未成年犯转移到教育项目或社区服务项目中。世界各地的研究表明，监禁未成年犯对减少累犯几乎不起作用。从2008年到2022年，未成年人被定罪的数量下降了近70%。

But the alternatives to prison have been riddled with holes. Juvenile correctional facilities and reform schools were often overseen by police officers rather than specially trained staff. Parents could choose not to send their children there.

但坐牢的替代选择却存在很多漏洞。少管所和专门学校往往由警察而非受过专门培训的工作人员监管。父母可以选择不把孩子送到那里。

Officials were even less sure what to do with those under 14. In 2018, a 12-year-old boy who the police said killed his mother was allowed to return to school several days later; the police said they had no choice because they couldn’t bring charges.

对于14岁以下的未成年人，官方甚至更加不确定应该如何处理。2018年，警方称一名12岁男孩杀害了自己的母亲，但几天后他被允许返回学校；警方表示他们别无选择，因为无法提出指控。

The public furor over that case helped push the government to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 12 in 2021, said Zhang Jing, a consultant for the China Association for the Prevention of Juvenile Crime, in Beijing.

中国预防青少年犯罪研究会顾问张荆在北京接受采访时表示，公众对该案件的愤怒推动政府在2021年将刑事责任年龄降至12岁。

It is unclear whether juvenile crime rates are actually rising. The Supreme People’s Court recently announced that it had sentenced 12,000 minors in the first three months of 2024, a year-on-year increase of nearly 80 percent. But that could reflect changes in officials’ decisions to prosecute, rather than an actual increase in offenses by juveniles, experts said. China does not publicize arrest statistics. And social media has helped magnify individual cases.

目前还不清楚青少年犯罪率是否真的在上升。最高人民法院近日宣布，在2024年前三个月，共对1.2万未成年人判刑，同比增长近80%。但专家表示，这可能反映了警方起诉决定的变化，而不是青少年犯罪的实际增加。中国不公布逮捕统计数据。而社交媒体帮助放大了个别案例。

The debate about punishment has in some ways overshadowed the conversation about prevention — and in particular, how to help the so-called left-behind children involved in some of these crimes.

在某种程度上，关于惩罚的辩论盖过了关于预防的讨论，特别是关于如何帮助涉及这些犯罪的所谓留守儿童的问题。

Studies have found that left-behind children — of whom there are around 70 million — are more likely to be bullied or abused, partly because they may receive less supervision or affection. The three suspects in the Handan case were left-behind, as was the victim, according to state media.

中国有大约7000万留守儿童，研究发现，他们更容易受到欺凌或虐待，部分原因是他们可能受到的监督或关爱较少。据官方媒体报道，邯郸案件中的三名嫌疑人和受害人都是留守儿童。

In response, many Chinese have urged parents to return to their villages to raise their children, or suggested parents should be held liable if their children can’t be.

作为回应，许多中国人敦促父母回乡抚养孩子，还有人建议如果孩子没到刑责年龄，就追究父母的责任。

But Professor Zhang, in Beijing, said those calls overlooked the reasons parents separated from their children in the first place. China prohibits most children from attending schools outside their hometowns, making it difficult for workers to bring children with them.

但北京的张荆说，这些呼吁忽略了父母与子女分离的根本原因。中国禁止大多数孩子在家乡以外的地方上学，这使得父母很难带着孩子打工。

“Punishing the parents is useless. Wouldn’t it be better to change the parents’ environment?” Professor Zhang said. He has also called for more resources for rehabilitation and prevention, such as police officers specially trained to deal with juveniles.

“我觉得这个问题惩罚父母也没有什么作用。惩罚父母你不如改变他们的家庭环境，对吧？”张荆说。他还呼吁为改过自新和防治提供更多资源，例如配备接受过处理青少年问题培训的警察。

Mr. Gong also acknowledged the impossible choices many parents faced. He himself had often been away for weeks or months at a time, because his village had few jobs.

龚军利也承认，很多家长都面临着不可能的选择。他自己也经常一走就是几周或者几个月，因为他所在的村子几乎没有工作机会。

“Who doesn’t want to give their child or family a better life?” he said. “But everyone has to do that in their own way.”

“作为一个父母，谁不想给自己的小孩或者给自己的家人创造一个更好的生活？每个人都想，”他说。“但是他用他不同的方式和方法去负责。”

Now, Mr. Gong has been staying near home, working spare jobs while waiting for the trial.

现在，龚军利一直在离家不远的地方打零工，同时等待审判。

Xinyue was buried in the grove where she died. Mr. Gong cut down the poplars and planted cherry and peach trees in their place. He imagined Xinyue being reborn and eating from them.

欣悦被安葬在她死去的小树林里。龚军利把杨树砍了，在原来的地方种上了樱桃树和桃树。他想象着欣悦重新来到这个世上，吃着树上的果实。