As a supervision and education measure for under-18 offenders, community-based conciliation is provided for the first time in the 2015 Penal Code and the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code, marking a turning point in Vietnam’s policies on criminal handling of juvenile delinquents in compatibility with current global trends in juvenile justice. This measure is different from the other two judicial measures[1] applicable to under-18 offenders as it involves more active participation of victims and their representatives in criminal proceedings, and facilitates the use of opinions of victims during the conciliation process for handling juvenile offenders.

This article highlights new provisions of the 2015 Penal Code and the 2019 Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments[1] regarding the two judicial remedies of compulsory medical treatment and education at reformatories applied to juvenile offenders in Vietnam.

This paper outlines the remarkable evolution of juvenile justice in Vietnam. It discusses the extent to which Vietnamese juvenile justice and related laws and policies have been shaped by identifiable ideologies and models of intervention. Moreover, the legal framework governing juvenile justice, mainly the 2016 Law on Children, the 2015 Penal Code, the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code and the 2010 Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments, is introduced to show the complex and scattered state of relevant legislation. The paper offers a short analysis of actors who perform the juvenile justice role or function and reveals a system without specialization or clear separation from the justice system for adult offenders. In addition to identifying emerging characteristics of the system, the author compares these with some typical juvenile justice models around the world, namely the welfare model, the justice model and the restorative model, and concludes that the Vietnamese model is a hybrid mixture of these three ones. Finally, the author makes some recommendations on shaping the juvenile justice system of Vietnam in conformity with international standards in order to meet access-to-justice needs of Vietnamese juvenile offenders.

Under the recent universal periodic review, the United Nations Human Rights Council has appreciated the achievements recorded by Vietnam in realizing its commitments on human rights. It has also made hundreds of recommendations for Vietnam to better protect and guarantee human rights, 182 of which are accepted by the country. In criminal justice, 17 recommendations of the UNHRC are directly related to the formulation and revision of the 2015 Penal Code.

The 2015 Criminal Procedure Code contains many new provisions on the procedure applicable to persons aged under 18 years, serving as the ground for building a separate juvenile justice system that is humane, friendly, respectful and protective in Vietnam. Apart from these progressive points, the Code still has some shortcomings as pointed out by the author at the end of the article.

At the 9th and 10th sessions of the XIIIth National Assembly (NA), there were hot debates on the proposed amendments to the Penal Code’s provisions concerning under-18 offenders. Some opinions held that the provisions on the age groups of juvenile offenders who must bear penal liability should not be changed.

In furtherance of judicial reform, Vietnam is considering the abolition of capital punishment for nine types of crime and new methods of execution to replace firing squads.