International Conference, 6 October 2021, Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, Vietnam

Juvenile criminal justice is an integral part of the criminal justice system worldwide. Due to the incomplete physical and psychological development of juveniles, there are specific provisions under both international law and national laws to assist juveniles and support them to become better individuals. Although Vietnam’s criminal justice framework for juveniles has made some progress, there exists some inconsistency with the requirements of international law. New approaches and models such as diversion or restorative justice have been implemented effectively in many countries, but are not yet fully recognized in Vietnam. Some similar forms of restorative justice programs have appeared in Vietnamese law in general and in criminal law in particular, but have not been commonly applied in practice.

Shortcomings from the provisions of the law and many other reasons have made our juvenile criminal justice system ineffective. The system of agencies, organizations, and services to support juveniles before, during, and after the criminal proceedings has not been fully established. There is limited awareness of the juvenile justice system. This is inconsistent with a number of provisions in international documents to which Vietnam is a member, standards and guidelines of the United Nations and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

For the abovementioned reasons, Hochiminh City University of Law organizes an international seminar with the theme: “Juvenile Criminal Justice” on 6 October 2021. The conference is held for the following purposes:

• First, to analyze standards and norms on juvenile justice under the UN framework as well as other national legal and enforcement system to provide comparative studies
• Second, comprehensive and in-depth assessment of Vietnam’s juvenile criminal justice system and operational practice; to identify the causes leading to the ineffective operation of the criminal justice system for juveniles in Vietnam.
• Third, to find effective solutions to strengthen the capacity of the criminal justice system for juveniles generally and particularly in Vietnam.

Contents of the conference and discourses

The conference focuses on researching and discussing the following issues:

• Criminal policy on juvenile offenders: UN framework, national standards and norms of different countries on juvenile justice and lessons learnt (including comparative studies)
• Criminal law on juvenile offenders: international standards, laws of different countries and lessons learnt
• Criminal procedural law on the protection of juveniles: international standards, national laws of different countries and lessons learnt
• Law enforcement: strengths and weakness; comparative studies and lessons learnt.
• Prevention of crimes involving juveniles: causes and prevention methods, lessons learnt

Paper submission

The conference will be hybrid (in person and digital). Thus, we cordially invite researches and scholars to present their recent research output at the conference.

• The brief of a paper (abstract with the limit of 250 words) should be submitted to Miss Phuong Thao (npthao_hs(at)hcmulaw.edu.vn) by 15 July 2021.
• The full paper should be submitted to Miss Phuong Thao (npthao_hs(at)hcmulaw.edu.vn)  by 31 August 2021.
• The counted words of paper must be between 3000–8000 words.

Accepted papers will be printed in the Conference proceedings with a small grant and selected papers will be published in the Vietnamese Journal for Legal Sciences in English version (https://sciendo.com/journal/VJLS).

* With thanks to Ass. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa, Dean of the Criminal Law Faculty, Hochiminh City University of Law