Law tackles sexual abuse of minors online

New interpretation of legislation provides definitive answers to vexed questions and provides greater protection for young people.Cao Yin reports.

China's judicial authorities have long pondered a controversial subject: how to deal with the sexual assault of minors via the internet.

Some legal professionals believe that people who encourage juveniles to undress and then talk with them via computer cameras or request naked photos or videos should not be prosecuted because no physical contact has been made. However, others refute that stance, saying that acts that can seriously harm the mental health of minors must be severely punished.

The debate among prosecutors and judges centered on the types of charges that could be brought against such behavior: Insulting the children? Distributing obscene materials? Molestation?

Recently, a legal document provided a definitive answer to the problem.

On May 25, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the top judicial authorities, issued an interpretation of the Criminal Law that specified a number of circumstances in which people who sexually abuse children online should be prosecuted.

The interpretation gives clear guidance, saying that those who encourage or force minors to expose their genitals, ask them to have nude chats or request naked photos or videos in cyberspace should be categorized as molesters in accordance with the law.

Under the Criminal Law, anyone who molests a child faces a prison term of up to five years. However, the sentence can be increased if that person molests several children, abuses the same child many times or causes injury or other serious consequences to a minor.

After reading the interpretation, which took effect on June 1, Huang He, a judge with the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court, said, "Such a clear definition is of great significance as it gives us precise guidance for handling such cases in the future."

In Huang's opinion, molestation via the internet harms the dignity of minors and may also cause mental problems. "The offense is just as severe as the same act offline, so offenders must be prosecuted and heavily punished (if convicted)," he said.

When He Li, chief judge at the SPC's No 1 Criminal Adjudication Tribunal, introduced the interpretation, she said, "Clarifying the definition of online molestation is a response to public concerns and it deals with new crimes in cyberspace in the new era."

She added that the judicial authorities are committed to maintaining a zero-tolerance attitude toward sex crimes against minors, and said the interpretation is a new step in child protection.

Recent trend

As an example, Huang recalled a case he handled in which a perpetrator was sentenced to 20 months in prison for molesting a 14-year-old girl online.

The criminal, then a 17-year-old vocational school student, met the victim through a popular video-sharing platform in January 2021.

Initially, the girl responded to a request to send naked photos of herself with her face partially obscured. However, when the student requested nude videos, she refused.

"He then threatened her, saying that he would publish the naked pictures online if she refused to shoot the videos. The girl felt she had no choice so she sent some nude videos to him," Huang said. "After that, she had difficulty sleeping and sometimes suffered acute insomnia."

The student was detained after the girl told her elder sister about the videos, leading the older girl to inform the police.

The Chaoyang court later classified the student's behavior as molestation, but gave him a lenient punishment in light of the fact that he was a minor when he committed the crime, had pleaded guilty and expressed remorse, Huang said.

He noted that a report issued by the court shows that molestation via the internet has become a trend in crimes against minors, "and many victims in such cases were age 14 or younger. They had little awareness of self-protection but were deeply curious, had little communication with their parents or teachers and they lacked the ability to distinguish right from wrong in cyberspace".

He, the SPC judge, said the judicial authorities decided to clarify the definition of online molestation via the new interpretation because they discovered that a number of criminals have used the internet to lure minors into having nude chats or taking naked photos before sexually assaulting them offline.

She added that identifying the online offense will help remove confusion in legal practices and unify case-handling standards, thus offering children stronger protection.

On May 31, the SPP cited data showing that since 2018 more than 3,000 people have been prosecuted for using the internet to sexually abuse children. It added that prosecutors nationwide have strengthened the fight against such behavior, even though it is often hard to detect.

Detection difficulties

Data released in November by the China Internet Network Information Center showed that China was home to 191 million netizens age 18 and younger in 2021, meaning that 96.8 percent of children had access to the internet.

They mainly spent their time online searching for information, chatting, watching short videos and playing games, the center said. However, it noted that 13.5 percent of respondents said they had also found pornographic content online.

The data also noted that most of the children surfed the internet at home, and that strong parental management and supervision helped minors avoid harmful information and formed good habits online.

However, in Huang's opinion, online molestation is difficult for parents to detect because many perpetrators who talk with minors initially pretend to be child stars, and then they contact the children under fake identities.

"Some perpetrators eliminate chat records containing naked materials by resetting their smartphones, so the offenses are hard to expose," Huang said. "Even if the victims' parents discover the problem and ask for legal help, the deleted content would still be a problem in terms of detection and evidence collection."

Last month, Li Hongbo, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, told China Newsweek that determining the seriousness of online molestation is difficult because although many victims suffer psychological or mental injuries it is hard to ascertain whether their problems were linked to online assault.

The magazine quoted Li as saying that compared with molestation offline, the range of victims has been expanded in cyberspace. "Some kids fall into the trap more easily as a result of a lack of physical contact with the perpetrators," he said.

Xu Hao, a lawyer from the Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, said, "Whether offline or online, molestation and other forms of sexual assault will have an obvious, long-term psychological impact on children. Many victims have anxiety and nightmares or find it difficult to get along with other people after being forced to have nude chats with perpetrators. Some express their pain or depression by taking drugs or even harming themselves."

He, from the SPC, said it is essential that the judicial authorities pay greater attention to and strongly combat the sexual abuse of children both offline and online "as both cause great damage to minors".

She also urged judges across the country to give harsher punishments to those who combine online molestation with offline assault, adding that "such aggravated acts are more harmful to children".

Future assistance

Applauding the clarification offered by the new document, Xu said that those outside the judiciary, such as children's guardians and internet platforms, must also join the fight by reporting their suspicions to help prevent injury to minors.

"Parents should care more about their children and try to learn about the things that interest them and the things that trouble them," he said. "It's better to spend more time with minors instead of allowing them to use the internet for too long."

To prevent minors from spending long periods online and being influenced by harmful content, many internet platforms have set up special websites or systems for children.

Xu suggested that such platforms — especially those related to social media, livestreaming and the sharing of short videos — should improve self-regulation and upgrade their systems regularly to ensure that minors can be kept away from pornographic content.

Huang, the judge in Chaoyang, said, "Online platforms can link children's accounts to those of their parents to ensure that notifications can be sent to the adults in a timely manner if any abnormalities are found in the minor's activity."

He called for greater efforts in terms of sex education, and suggested that parents call the police and also ask for professional psychological assistance if they discover that their child has been subjected to sexual assault in any form.

"It's also essential to ask internet platforms to isolate evidence (of abuse) and prevent further injury that could be caused by the dissemination of photos or videos of naked children or of them being assaulted," he said.

Contact the writer at caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn