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Fiona Tam

Minors in Guangdong will not be allowed to stay out all night without permission starting  on Thursday, under a new rule legal experts say is likely to be unenforceable.
Mainland media reported yesterday that legislators revised the juvenile protection regulation after the province recorded an 80 per cent leap in the number of juveniles convicted of crimes from 2003 to last year.
The new rule will require parents of young people of 16 years and below to stop their children from spending nights outside or living alone.
Those who violate the rule could receive a warning or be disciplined by their employer, community or the police, the reports said yesterday, without giving details.
About 50,000 minors were convicted of crime in Guangdong in 2003.  Last year, the figure rose to 90,000, or 10 per cent of the national total. Of the 90,000 convicted, 80 per cent  were involved in robbery or theft. Guangdong authorities also said one out of five juvenile offenders had gang connections.
But  legal experts argued that the new regulation  was unlikely to be enforceable. Zhang Haixia , a Shenzhen-based lawyer  with the Guangdong Juvenile Rights Protection Committee,  suggested that parents were unlikely to call police when their children failed to come home.
'Also, internet cafes and other entertainment venues that allow juveniles to stay overnight won't report their young patrons to police, which means the regulation would exist in name only,' Ms Zhang said.
She said that it was impossible for the law to itemise every obligation of minors and parents, and that legal protection for juveniles should focus on their rights rather than their responsibilities.
Some online critics said the regulation went against common sense.
'Stressing parents' responsibilities to take care of children won't cut juvenile crime rates if the authorities don't clamp down on illegal internet cafes or entertainment venues that accommodate young people and allow criminal gangs to goad them into committing crimes,' a critic said.
Guangzhou psychologist Qiu Hongzhong   argued that poor family relationships were   to blame for the high crime rate.
'Young people who  have repressed negative emotions ... can erupt without warning, and this leads to crime.  Family relationships are key to cutting crime among minors.'
Parents said the regulation would be difficult to enforce because  the definition of 'staying out at night' was unclear. No curfew time was mentioned.
'Should my child be considered to be 'staying out at night' if my child returns at 4am? How about 2am?' one parent said. 'There is no perfect definition. Whether juveniles return home should be considered a moral problem rather than enforcing the authorities' will by law.'
The draft also prohibits primary and high schools from publishing test rankings of minors, as well as children under 12 from sitting in the front seat of a car.
Young offenders
The number of minors convicted of crimes in Guangdong province jumped 80 per cent between 2003 and 2007, to 90,000
Of the national total, that amounted to: 10%



Rule bans minors in Guangdong from staying out all night