Article 17 of the Criminal Law stipulates that a person who has reached the age of 16 shall bear criminal responsibility for committing a crime. A person who has reached the age of 14 but under the age of 16 commits the crime of intentional homicide, intentional injury, serious injury or death, rape, robbery, drug trafficking, arson, explosion and poisoning, and shall bear criminal responsibility.
Article 37 of the Criminal Procedure Law: A defense lawyer may meet and correspond with a criminal suspect or defendant in custody. Other defenders, with the permission of the people's courts and people's procuratorates, may also meet and correspond with criminal suspects and defendants in custody.