On June 9, 2026, the Supreme People\u2019s Court issued Official Dispatch No. 378\/TANDTC-PC to disseminate several new provisions of the 2025 Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments that fall within the Court\u2019s authority. These changes not only affect the operation of the court system but also directly impact sentenced persons, lawyers, and other authorities involved in criminal proceedings. The following article highlights the notable contents of the above-mentioned Official Dispatch.<\/p>\n
First, the time limits for resolving many judgment enforcement procedures have been significantly shortened. One of the notable features of the 2025 Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments is the reduction of the time limits for handling various procedures falling within the Court\u2019s authority. Accordingly, the time limit for considering and deciding on the temporary suspension of a prison sentence is 03 working days from the date the Court receives the application dossier requesting such suspension. Several other procedures, including exemption from serving a prison sentence, exemption from serving a non-custodial reform sentence, and exemption from the remaining period of probation or residence restriction, are subject to time limits ranging from 07 to 09 days, depending on the type of procedure. The shortening of processing time helps protect the rights and interests of sentenced persons, reduces delays in procedural handling, and improves the efficiency of judicial activities.<\/p>\n
Second, many hearings are conducted by a single Judge. The 2025 Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments provides that many hearings during the criminal judgment enforcement stage shall be conducted by a single Judge instead of a panel of judges as previously required. Specifically, hearings on the reduction of prison sentences, exemption from serving prison sentences, reduction of the probation period for persons granted conditional early release from prison, reduction of the probation period for persons serving suspended sentences, decisions requiring a person serving a suspended sentence to serve the prison sentence, reduction of the term of non-custodial reform sentences, exemption from serving non-custodial reform sentences, exemption from serving the remaining period of residence restriction, and exemption from serving the remaining period of probation shall all be conducted by a single Judge. This provision helps simplify procedures, reduce staffing pressures, and expedite the resolution of cases in the context of an increasing workload.<\/p>\n
Third, several powers have been transferred from provincial-level Courts to regional Courts. The 2025 Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments continues to promote the decentralization of authority by assigning regional People\u2019s Courts certain duties that were previously under the jurisdiction of provincial-level Courts. The transferred powers include: considering and deciding on the temporary suspension of prison sentences; ordering forensic or forensic psychiatric examinations for prisoners; and deciding on the application of the compulsory medical treatment measure to persons serving prison sentences. This decentralization facilitates easier access to the Courts for citizens, while also reducing the workload of provincial-level Courts and improving the efficiency of case handling.<\/p>\n
Fourth, the requirement for a written application has been introduced. To address difficulties arising in practice, the 2025 Law adds an important condition that sentenced persons must submit a written application when requesting the consideration of: the reduction of the probation period for persons granted conditional early release from prison; the reduction of the probation period for persons serving suspended sentences; and the reduction of the term of non-custodial reform sentences. This provision establishes a clearer legal basis for competent authorities to consider and resolve such requests.<\/p>\n
Fifth, the Court is required to issue a formal decision when rejecting requests for postponement or temporary suspension of prison sentence execution. This is a notable change compared to the previous regulations, under which such refusals were often communicated merely by written notice. Replacing notifications with formal decisions not only enhances transparency in judicial proceedings but also provides a clear legal basis for supervision, complaints, and review in accordance with the law.<\/p>\n
Sixth, the law clearly stipulates the timing for considering sentence reductions and the shortening of supervision periods. Specifically, the new law provides that the consideration of requests for shortening the probation period for persons granted conditional early release from prison, shortening the probation period for persons serving suspended sentences, or reducing the term of non-custodial reform sentences shall be conducted periodically in three rounds each year, on the occasions of New Year\u2019s Day, National Reunification Day (30 April), and Independence Day (2 September). Clearly defining these review periods helps ensure consistency in the application of the law and enables sentenced persons to proactively monitor their rights and interests.<\/p>\n
Finally, regarding the completion of judgment enforcement dossiers, when issuing a decision on the execution of a prison sentence, the Court must send the effective judgment or decision together with the enforcement decision to the judgment enforcement authority. For cases that have undergone appellate, cassation, or reopening proceedings, the dossier must also include the first-instance judgment. This provision helps ensure the completeness of judgment enforcement dossiers and facilitates the consideration of legal measures such as sentence reduction, temporary suspension, or exemption from serving a sentence.<\/p>\n
It should be noted that the 2025 Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments takes effect on July 1, 2026. For judgments and decisions that have already become legally effective but, by the effective date of the new Law, have not yet been enforced or have not been fully enforced, the provisions of the 2025 Law shall apply to their continued enforcement.<\/p>\n
The amendments introduced by the 2025 Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments reflect a trend toward procedural reform aimed at greater efficiency, transparency, and effectiveness in judgment enforcement. The shortening of procedural time limits, simplification of hearing composition, decentralization of authority, and improvement of mechanisms for reviewing judicial decisions are expected to enhance the efficiency of judicial activities and better protect the lawful rights and interests of sentenced persons.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ng\u00e0y 09\/6\/2026, T\u00f2a \u00e1n nh\u00e2n d\u00e2n t\u1ed1i cao \u0111\u00e3 ban h\u00e0nh C\u00f4ng v\u0103n s\u1ed1 378\/TANDTC-PC nh\u1eb1m qu\u00e1n tri\u1ec7t m\u1ed9t s\u1ed1 \u0111i\u1ec3m m\u1edbi c\u1ee7a Lu\u1eadt Thi h\u00e0nh \u00e1n h\u00ecnh s\u1ef1 n\u0103m 2025 thu\u1ed9c th\u1ea9m quy\u1ec1n c\u1ee7a T\u00f2a \u00e1n. Nh\u1eefng thay \u0111\u1ed5i n\u00e0y kh\u00f4ng ch\u1ec9 t\u00e1c \u0111\u1ed9ng \u0111\u1ebfn ho\u1ea1t \u0111\u1ed9ng c\u1ee7a h\u1ec7 th\u1ed1ng T\u00f2a \u00e1n m\u00e0 c\u00f2n […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tin-tuc"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tin-associates.com.vn\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tin-associates.com.vn\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tin-associates.com.vn\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tin-associates.com.vn\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tin-associates.com.vn\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tin-associates.com.vn\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1203,"href":"https:\/\/tin-associates.com.vn\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions\/1203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tin-associates.com.vn\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tin-associates.com.vn\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tin-associates.com.vn\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}