Chapter VIII
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IN RESPECT TO JUVENILES WHO ARE CRIME VICTIMS, WITNESS TESTIFIERS
Article 153. Provision of protection, assistance to juveniles who are crime victims, witness testifiers
1. The legal proceedings involving juveniles who are crime victims, witness testifiers must be conducted in an environment conducive to ensuring their safety in terms of life, health, dignity, honor, property, personal secrets, rights, and other lawful interests. Limiting the number of interactions between juveniles who are crime victims, witness testifiers, and persons facing denunciation or requisitions for charges, persons facing charges to the lowest possible extent.
2. Competent procedural agencies, persons must apply appropriate measures to minimize the anxiety and stress of the juveniles who are crime victims, witness testifiers during their participation in the proceedings.
3. Competent procedural agencies, persons must cooperate with social workers, child protection agencies, and other relevant organizations to support, care for, and protect juveniles who are crime victims, witness testifiers during their participation in the proceedings.
4. Cases involving juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers shall be prioritized and handled as soon as possible.
5. Competent procedural agencies, persons must apply appropriate, necessary measures in accordance with the law to protect the life, health, dignity, honor, property, and other lawful rights and interests of juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers and their kin when they are harmed or threatened.
6. Juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers shall not be escorted by force.
7. Juveniles who are crime victims facing difficult circumstances shall receive support from the Child Protection Fund.
Article 154. Representatives and supporters' participation in legal proceedings
1. Juveniles who are crime victims have the right to have a legal representative, a person protecting their lawful rights and interests, and juveniles who are witness testifiers have the right to have a legal representative to participate in legal proceedings. If the participation of the legal representative does not ensure the juvenile's interests, another legal representative must be appointed in accordance with the law.
2. Immediately after admitting a case, the competent procedural agency must notify in writing the legal representative of the juvenile who is a crime victim, the witness testifier to participate in the proceedings; if necessary, and the notification can be made directly, via phone, or other electronic means, but must be followed up with a written notification. The legal representative must be present at the time and location specified in the notification.
3. Before conducting any legal proceedings, the competent authority must inform the legal representative, the person protecting lawful rights and interests of the juvenile who is a crime victim, the legal representative of the witness testifier as stipulated in this Law and the Criminal Procedure Code.
4. At the request of the juvenile who is a crime victim, their legal representative, or when deemed necessary, the competent procedural agency may request the involvement of a social worker to guide, support the juvenile and perform other duties, powers of the social worker as prescribed by law.
5. If deemed necessary, the competent procedural agency may request medical, psychological, educational, and social work experts to assist the juvenile who is a crime victim, witness testifier during the legal proceedings.
Article 155. Maintaining confidentiality of information of juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers
1. Competent procedural agencies, persons must apply appropriate measures to maintain confidentiality of personal privacy of juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers.
2. It is strictly prohibited to disclose information about the full name, place of residence, education, work, images, and other identification-related information of juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers.
During pronouncing judgments, the Judge is not allowed to mention the full name, place of residence, education, or work of the juvenile who is a crime victim or witness testifier.
3. The court shall handle cases involving gender-based violence of juveniles or other special cases requiring juvenile protection in a secret trial.
4. Competent procedural agencies, persons must promptly request press agencies and news agencies not to publish or to remove information and images related to the case that affect the honor and dignity of juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers.
5. Competent procedural agencies, persons shall apply professional measures or request the competent authority to apply technical measures to protect the personal information, honor and dignity of juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers that are disseminated on the internet.
6. Competent procedural agencies, persons must handle, within their jurisdiction, or propose to relevant agencies or organizations to handle, any intentional dissemination of personal information of juveniles who are crime victims in cases of child abuse that affects their dignity and honor.
Article 156. Statement extraction, confrontation, identification, voice recognition, experimental investigations
1. Extraction of statements from juveniles who are crime victims and witness testifiers can be done at the place of investigation, prosecution, their place of residence or place of study, workplace, or living place, or at the facility for taking care of juveniles. Priority should be given to extracting statements at their place of residence. When extracting the testimony of juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers at the place of investigation or prosecution, a designated room must be arranged to ensure a friendly environment suitable for their psychology and age.
If deemed necessary, the testimony of juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers may be audio or video recorded.
2. During the extraction of the testimony of juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers, the competent procedural person must maintain a friendly attitude and use language that is easy to understand, appropriate for their age, gender, cognitive abilities, maturity level, and the specific circumstances of the family, psychological state, health, and other characteristics of the juveniles.
3. Competent procedural agencies, persons must limit the number of times of extraction of testimony from juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers and should only do so if deemed necessary.
4. Juveniles who are victims or witnesses should not be repeatedly questioned on the same matter. Testimony should not be taken more than twice in one day, each session not exceeding two hours, except in cases with complex circumstances. Extraction of testimony should be paused immediately if the juvenile shows signs of fatigue that may affect their ability to provide accurate and complete information.
5. During the extraction of testimony, the competent procedural person may use diagrams, models, electronic devices, or other tools to assist the extraction of testimony from juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers.
6. Confrontation between juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers and the accused persons should not be conducted unless deemed necessary for case resolution.
During the confrontation, the competent procedural person shall arrange separate rooms for the participants and use electronic devices, screens, or other protective measures to avoid affecting the psychology of the juveniles.
Confrontation with juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers should only be conducted once a day and not exceed two hours per session. Competent procedural persons must immediately halt the confrontation if juveniles show signs of fatigue or stress.
7. Juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers have the right to refuse to participate in experimental investigations if such investigations may harm their psychological well-being.
8. During testimony, confrontation, identification, voice recognition, or experimental investigations, the juvenile’s legal representative or person protecting their lawful rights and interests must be present.
9. During testimony, confrontation, identification, voice recognition, or experimental investigations, Investigators, Investigation Officers, Prosecutors, and Inspectors should dress appropriately, not in the uniform of the People’s Police or Prosecution.
Article 157. Inspection of traces across a body, request for expert examinations
1. Inspection of traces across a body of a juvenile who is a crime victim, witness testifier must involve their legal representative.
If deemed necessary, a doctor may be invited to participate in the inspection of traces across the body of a juvenile who is a crime victim. The examination of the genital of a juvenile who is the victim must be performed by a doctor.
2. The inspection of traces on the body of a juvenile who is the victim or witness must be carried out as quickly as possible.
3. Only request an expert examination or take samples from the body of a minor who is the victim or witness if there are grounds to believe that it is necessary to resolve the case. When conducting an expert examination and taking samples from the body, the privacy of the juvenile must be respected.
4. The agency handling the case must perform an examination within 24 hours of discovering grounds in cases of crimes in flagrante, crimes that have just ended but are discovered, or cases that require expert examination or have grounds or documents proving an act of harming juveniles. If it is necessary to take the victim to a medical establishment for first aid or emergency care, the agency handling the case must cooperate with the medical establishment to collect samples for expert examination.
Article 158. Limiting contact with the defendant
1. The Trial Panel must limit contact between the juvenile who is the victims and witnesses and the defendant when they present their testimony at the trial.
2. During the trial, the Trial Panel must isolate the juvenile who is the crime victim and witness testifier from the defendant in the following cases:
a) Cases involving juveniles who are victims of gender-based violence, violence, or trafficking;
b) Cases involving victims under 10 years of age;
c) Other cases where the juvenile or their representative requests isolation and the Trial Panel deems it necessary to isolate them to ensure the best interests of the juvenile.
Article 159. Adjudication procedure
1. Limiting the summoning of juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers to participate in court if it does not affect the resolution of the case. The judge presiding over the trial shall use the juvenile’s testimony in the case file or apply other alternative measures to adjudicate the case.
The judge presiding over the trial may decide to conduct an online trial in accordance with law so that juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers can participate in the trial at the multi-party hearing venue.
2. When juveniles who are victims or witnesses participate in the trial, they shall be put in an isolated room and allowed to use electronic devices; if an isolated room cannot be arranged, they shall be allowed to sit in the courtroom but must be separated from the defendant.
3. During the trial, the following requirements must be satisfied:
a) When questioning, questions must be brief, simple, and easy to understand, using language appropriate to the juvenile's age, gender, cognitive ability, and maturity level. Multiple matters shall not be asked at the same time. The questioning must pay attention to the specific characteristics of juveniles' family circumstances, psychological status, health and other characteristics;
b) If necessary, body diagrams, models, electronic devices or other tools can be used to assist the juvenile in answering questions. Juveniles who are crime victims and witness testifiers must not be asked to point to their body parts;
c) Questions that are offensive, threatening, embarrassing or insulting to juveniles who are crime victims and witness testifiers are prohibited.
4. Juveniles who are crime victims or witness testifiers are provide with conditions to be familiar with and interact with the adjudication process and procedures.
5. The Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court shall elaborate this Article.
Article 160. Compensation for juveniles who are crime victims
1. Determination of damage and payment of damage shall be carried out in accordance with civil laws.
2. Compensation for juveniles who are crime victims must be made promptly.
3. If life, health of the juvenile who is the crime victim is harmed and requires timely treatment but the person compensating cannot make compensation immediately, funds from the Children Protection Fund may be used. The person with the obligation to compensate must repay the Fund in accordance with applicable regulations.
4. The Government shall detail Clause 3 of this Article.
Article 161. Support for functional rehabilitation for juvenile who are victims
1. Crime victims who are under 16 years of age shall receive support and intervention in accordance with the Law on Children.
2. Victims from 16 to under 18 years of age have the right to be arranged a safe temporary residence, receive psychological counseling, medical treatment, legal aid, skills training, alternative care and other support activities as prescribed by law.
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