Time to Tackle Child Abuse

Child abuse has recently been a topic of widespread discussion in China.Two scandals that occurred this year have sparked renewed calls for legislation.

In one instance, a picture posted on the Internet showed a young female teacher holding up a student by his ears with his feet about 10 cm off the ground in a kindergarten class in Wenling, east China’s Zhejiang Province.

The teacher smiled as the boy cried out in pain. The woman was later fi red and detained by police, but then set free. The boy is still at home recovering from his injuries.“He is afraid of going to school and has nightmares,” his mother said.

In another case, a kindergarten girl in north China’s Shanxi Province was slapped in the face repeatedly for more than 10 minutes by her teacher because the child failed to answer a mathematics question. The teacher was detained for 15 days.

People in legal circles say that China’s current Criminal Law states that abuse is applicable only among family members.Typically, suspects of child abuse in kindergartens are put under administrative detention for up to 15 days, meaning they will not face criminal charges.

There are many laws against child abuse in China. For example, the Constitution and laws on compulsory education and protection of minors contain items regarding child abuse.But the Criminal Law has no specific crime relating to child abuse. The de fi nition of child abuse is unclear.

Whether or not child abuse should be taken as a crime has been heatedly discussed.The following are excerpts of some opinions.

Ling Ling (www.shangdu.com): The child abuse incident in Wenling is not an isolated case. In just two years, we have seen more than 10 child abuse cases in kindergartens. Methods ranging in severity from the inappropriate to the horrible are employed to torture or harass children.

However, no articles or clauses in China’s current Criminal Law are applicable to these child abuse suspects. The problem is that although some abuse is not physical, which provides evidence for prosecution, but rather mental, causing lifelong psychological damage. Nevertheless,those who impose these injuries won’t be punished by the Criminal Law, but will only be put under administrative detention.Such kind of punishment will do little to deter these suspects and thus is unlikely to prevent potential child abuse scandals in the future.

LI SHIGONG

Putting forward legislation on child abuse and punishing those found guilty should have already been addressed. Recent years have seen many changes and much improvement in China’s legal system. Emergencies and scandals often spur such advances in legislation. When the current laws are no longer able to properly address new issues, then those laws must be modi fi ed.

With child abuse scandals unfolding one after another, and when these cases are not prevented or curbed in the current legal environment, then the time has come to make child abuse a real crime.

Pi Yijun (www.cyol.net): It’s high time to cover child abuse in the Criminal Law. However, this new crime does not end in preventing teachers from abusing children in kindergartens, and it does not only target physical injuries either. More importantly, this crime is expected to change parents’ traditional ideas and mentality. China’s Constitution and its laws on compulsory education and protection of minors all ban child abuse, but they are not clear enough to protect children from crimes.

Child abuse refers to more than teachers mistreating children in kindergarten; it covers all kinds of damage done to minors.

China’s current law on the protection of minors is not fully capable of dealing with child abuse cases. Worse still, it lacks a set of effective judicial procedures that can put this law into practice. Children are weak and are dependent on the adults present in their lives. They are often not able to ask for help. The existing laws have no explicit stipulations to prevent or solve their cases.

He Ping (Shanghai Evening Post):China’s laws relating to child abuse generally address parent-child relationships, but fail to cover abuse of children by their teachers.Punishing a teacher accused of abusing a student requires physical evidence of “intentional harm.” Without such visible damage,the lawsuit is invalid. In the Wenling case,the child was not seriously hurt, so his teacher could not be criminally charged.Instead, the police did arrest the teacher for provoking a disturbance. In this crime a suspect can face jail time of up to seven years if convicted. This example shows that child abuse must be addressed by the Criminal Law.

Wang Yong (Procuratorial Daily):Children are defenseless and must be given special protection under the law. Abuse affects children not only physically but mentally as well. However, it’s not easy for the law to judge the damage on one’s mental health, as it is not outwardly evident. It not only makes the identi fi cation of the crime difficult, but also challenges the parents as they try to defend their children’s rights.

Liu Xianquan (Legal Daily): Is it necessary for child abuse to be covered in the Criminal Law? While it is a global issue,criminal legislation differs from one country to another.

For example, in New Zealand there are special charges relating to child abuse,referred to as the crime of abusing minors.Those who are accountable for abusing or allowing others to abuse minors under their jurisdiction will be jailed for up to fi ve years.In regions like Hong Kong, those who are responsible for child abuse will be jailed for a maximum of 10 years.

Although not all countries and regions have a special crime on child abuse in their criminal codes, most of them attach great importance to the problem.

Given the legal punishment of child abuse around the world, we fi nd that if a country is able to effectively safeguard children’s rights and interests, they have one thing in common:They have a well-developed and mature legal system on child protection.

In Britain, once social workers have found an abused child, they will immediately contact the police, and at the same time move the child to a safe place. In Japan, the government has set up a special consultation agency for child abuse cases.Professional workers will inspect and deal with the case, helping to work out solutions.

Based on these examples, we can see that setting up a special crime for child abuse is not the only way to solve the problem. We need a comprehensive reporting and supervisory mechanism to effectively protect children and maximize their rights and interests.

As for the child abuse scandals recently made public, I don’t think we need to set up a child abuse crime in the Criminal Law.Instead, I think it’s unwise to add a new crime to the Criminal Law following every scandal.We already have laws to curb child abuse.Some child abuse cases are not so serious that have to be treated as a crime; thus, it’s unnecessary to ask the suspects take criminal accountability. Criminal Law only works when all the other laws fail to address the issues at hand.

Of course, those who abuse children should be always severely punished. If what they do is a crime, they should be punished with the charge of “intentional injury.” If it is not serious, then it’s improper to deliberately link them to “crimes.” It’s enough to punish them with administrative regulations or fi nes.

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The priority now is to set up an inclusive and comprehensive legal system on child protection, as well as special child protection welfare agencies. This is the most effective way to protect children’s health, physically and mentally.