Contract Law · 23.03.2026

Juvenile Defence in Vietnam: The Law on Juvenile Justice 2024

Lawyer UnilawReading time: 8 min

Vietnam changed the way it deals with children in the criminal process. The Law on Juvenile Justice No. 59/2024/QH15, passed on 30 November 2024 and in force from 1 January 2026, is a single statute covering diversion, penalties, procedure, the enforcement of custodial measures and reintegration for people under 18. If your child, or a minor in your care, is caught up in a criminal matter in Vietnam, this is the law that decides what can happen — not the adult rules read down by analogy.

1. Who bears criminal responsibility, and from what age

Article 12 of the Penal Code sets the two tiers. A person aged 16 or over bears criminal responsibility for every offence, unless the Code provides otherwise. A person from 14 to under 16 bears criminal responsibility only for very serious and especially serious offences within a closed list of articles — which includes, among others, murder, intentional infliction of injury, robbery, theft, and several drug offences. Below 14 there is no criminal responsibility at all. The first question in any juvenile file is therefore arithmetic: exact age at the date of the act, and whether the charged article is on the list.

Article 25 of the Law on Juvenile Justice deals with establishing the age of a minor who is accused or who is a victim — a point that matters more often than families expect, where documents are incomplete or inconsistent.

2. Diversion comes first, and it is not a favour

Article 11 of the Law on Juvenile Justice states the priority of diversion (xử lý chuyển hướng) as a principle of the whole system. Article 36 lists the twelve measures available:

Reprimand
Apology to the victim
Compensation for damage
Education at commune level
Supervision at home
Curfew restrictions
Prohibition on contact with persons who create a risk of re-offending
Prohibition on going to places that create a risk of re-offending
Participation in a study or vocational-training programme
Participation in treatment or psychological counselling
Performance of community service
Education at a reformatory school

Only the twelfth is institutional. The first eleven keep the child in the community, and eight of them are the kind of outcome a family can actively help construct — an apology, compensation, enrolment in a course, a counselling programme. That is where a defender’s work in a juvenile case largely sits.

3. When diversion is available — and when it is closed off

Article 37 opens diversion, where the minor is not exempt from criminal responsibility under the Penal Code, in three situations: a person from 14 to under 16 who commits a very serious offence; a person from 16 to under 18 who commits a very serious offence negligently, a serious offence, or a less serious offence; and a minor who is an accomplice whose role in the case was insignificant.

Article 38 closes it. For a person from 14 to under 16, diversion is unavailable where the very serious offence is murder, rape, rape of a person under 16, forcible sexual intercourse with a person aged 13 to under 16, or illegal production of narcotics; where they have committed a very serious offence twice or more, or several very serious offences; or where the offence is especially serious. For a person from 16 to under 18 a comparable list applies. The exception in Article 37(3) — the insignificant accomplice — survives both lists, which is why establishing the precise role of a child in a group case is often the most valuable thing done in the first weeks.

4. If the case reaches sentencing: only four penalties exist

Article 115 of the Law on Juvenile Justice provides that a minor may receive only one of four penalties for each offence: warning, fine, non-custodial reform, or determinate imprisonment. There is no life imprisonment and no death penalty for a person who was under 18 at the time of the act.

Article 119 caps determinate imprisonment. For a person aged 16 to under 18, where the applicable Penal Code article provides life imprisonment or death, the maximum is 15 years; where it provides determinate imprisonment, the maximum is three-fifths of the statutory term. For a listed group of the gravest offences — murder, rape, rape of a person under 16 and others — those figures become 18 years and three-quarters. Article 124 governs suspended sentences for minors, and Article 123 the reduction of a sentence already imposed.

5. Detention is the exception

Article 15 of the Law states the principle of minimising coercive and preventive measures. Article 138 then makes temporary detention of a minor aged 14 to under 16 available only for an especially serious offence, and only where one of five grounds is established — a breach of a lighter measure already imposed, no clear place of residence, flight and arrest under a wanted notice, continuing to offend or preparing to, or destroying or falsifying evidence and threatening witnesses or victims. A comparable structure applies to very serious offences. Where a family is told a child “has to be” detained, the grounds in Article 138 are the thing to ask about.

6. A defender must be appointed, even over the minor’s objection

Article 130 of the Law on Juvenile Justice sets out four rules that are worth reading in order. The minor may defend themselves or engage a defender. Their representative may choose a defender or defend them personally. If the minor does not agree with the defender chosen by the representative, the choice must follow the minor’s view. And where neither the minor nor the representative engages anyone, the competent authority must appoint a defender under the Criminal Procedure Code — and if the minor refuses the appointed defender, the authority appoints one anyway.

That obligation is anchored in Article 76 of the Criminal Procedure Code No. 101/2015/QH13, which requires appointment where the accused is under 18, and directs the authority to request the Bar Association, the State legal-aid centre or the Fatherland Front Committee to assign someone. Article 14 of the Law on Juvenile Justice adds the right to legal aid and to interpretation. Nothing in this displaces Article 13 of the Criminal Procedure Code (presumption of innocence) or Article 98 (an admission cannot be the sole basis of a conviction), both of which apply to a child exactly as they apply to an adult.

7. A friendly procedure, and who else is in the room

Articles 6, 8, 10, 13 and 17 of the Law set the procedural principles: friendly proceedings, the right to full and timely information, prompt resolution, confidentiality of personal information, and the right to participate and be heard. Article 32 creates the role of the social worker, Article 54 the social-investigation report, and Article 150 requires the social worker’s presence at trial. Article 149 provides for a child-friendly courtroom and Article 151 for a friendly trial procedure. Article 144 governs the taking of statements and interrogation of a minor.

8. Which court hears the case

Article 148 gives jurisdiction over a criminal case involving a minor accused to the Family and Juvenile Court. Where a court has not yet established such a division, the case is heard by a judge who meets the specialisation requirement in Article 29 of the Law. Article 16 states the wider principle: specialisation across the whole of juvenile justice.

9. The criminal record: many minors are treated as having none

Article 127 is the provision families ask about most. A convicted minor is regarded as having no criminal record where they were 14 to under 16 at the time, or where they were 16 to under 18 and convicted of a less serious offence, a serious offence, or a very serious offence committed negligently. For a person aged 16 to under 18 convicted of an intentional very serious offence or an especially serious offence, the record is expunged automatically after a period running from completion of the sentence, the end of the probation period, or the expiry of the limitation for enforcement: 3 months for a warning, fine, non-custodial reform or suspended sentence; 6 months for imprisonment up to 5 years; 1 year for imprisonment above 5 years up to 15 years; 2 years for imprisonment above 15 years. Articles 171 to 176 then deal with preparing for release and reintegration.

10. Speak to UniLaw early

In a juvenile case, the decisions that matter most — whether diversion is on the table, what role the child is recorded as having played, whether detention is justified, what the social-investigation report says — are taken in the first weeks, and largely before any hearing. If a minor in your family has been summoned, held or charged in Vietnam, contact UniLaw. We will tell you which of the twelve diversion measures the file realistically supports and what has to be put in place to reach it.

Legal basis

Law on Juvenile Justice No. 59/2024/QH15 of 30 November 2024, in force from 1 January 2026 (Article 178): Articles 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 25, 29, 32, 36, 37, 38, 54, 115, 119, 123, 124, 127, 130, 138, 144, 148, 149, 150, 151, 171–176.
Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13 (as amended and consolidated): Article 12 (age of criminal responsibility).
Criminal Procedure Code No. 101/2015/QH13: Article 13 (presumption of innocence), Article 16 (right to defence), Article 76 (mandatory appointment of a defender for a person under 18), Article 98 (statements of the accused).

For the other matters we handle for individuals and families, see legal services for foreigners in Vietnam.