China: Over 80,000 suspects prosecuted for crimes against minors

More than 80,000 people were prosecuted in China between January 2016 and November 2017 on charges of child abuse, rape and trafficking, according to China’s top procuratorate.

During the same period, more than 58,000 were arrested on suspicion of these crimes, said Zheng Xinjian, Head of the Minor Case Division of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP).

“Chinese procuratorates have always taken a zero-tolerance against crimes involving juvenile victims,” Xinjian said.

Meanwhile, prosecutors nationwide have taken steps to protect the rights of adolescent suspects and show leniency to juveniles convicted of minor offences in an effort to “educate and save” them.

Statistics from the SPP show that prosecutors exempted about 70,000 criminal suspects under 18 years from arrest January 2013 and November 2017.

The figure amounts to 28.7 per cent of all minor suspects.

During the same period, more than 27,000 minors, or 8.9 per cent of the total number od suspects were exempted from prosecution.