China's communist government adopted a formal criminal code that became effective on January 1, 1980. The code features equality under the law, prohibition against imprisonment without legal sanction, and the outlawing of torture to secure confessions. Accused persons are entitled to legal defense and public trials. Children are taught to defer to their parents, who transmit traditional customs to their children, and schools conduct political education. Juveniles are persons between 14 and 25 years old, and although there is no separate juvenile code, the criminal code provides for the age of criminal liability and for special consideration of children under 16 years old. Before a child is subjected to intensive state intervention for deviant behavior, the neighborhood party consults with parents to try and modify the child's behavior, followed by requests of schools and other authorities to help rehabilitate the child, and then involvement in the work study school. Upon offending a fourth time, a juvenile goes to a reformatory, with or without court action. Juvenile reform is accomplished through education and labor. Juveniles over 18 years old sentenced to reform through labor are imprisoned. Persons convicted of specified heinous crimes are eligible for the death penalty, and juveniles as young as 16 may receive it, but have a mandatory 2-year suspension of sentence with a review at the end of that time. 25 notes and 5-item bibliography.