TLDR version: China recently lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12 years old, in order to allow criminal punishment of younger children who intentionally cause serious hurt to others.
The new law was passed in December 2020 and came into effect on 1 March 2021.
The article cites two cases that stoked outrage in China, that of a 13-year-old boy who murdered a 10-year-old girl and another 13-year-old boy who killed a 6-year-old boy.
The first case took place before the laws were amended, and so the young offender who was below the age of criminal responsibility was only given three years of correctional education.
In the second case, the arrest was made on 4 March 2021 when the new laws had already kicked in, so how these will be implemented in respect of the teenage killer remains to be seen.
More thoughts: In Singapore, the age of criminal responsibility starts at 12 years old.
However, offenders who are at least 10 years old and sufficiently mature may also be prosecuted for a crime.
Regardless, there are restrictions on sentencing for young offenders. Specifically, those below 14 years old cannot be imprisoned under any circumstances.
Some of the youngest known killers in modern history include 6-year-old Carl Newton Mahan and 8-year-old Amarjeet Sada.