China's 'Child Rape Isn't Rape' Law Is Sparking Outrage

[samlove]

A case of suspected child rape involving two men, an elementary school principal and a public servant, and six sixth-grade girls is causing outrage in China. The incident spurred a new round of debate regarding China’s controversial “prostitution with a girl under 14” law, which many believe lets rapists and pedophiles off easy, according to QQ News.
Six girls from an elementary school in Wanning city, in the southern island province of Hainan, went missing at the same time last Tuesday. Local police found four of the girls on Wednesday, the other two not until Thursday morning, when it was discovered they had been taken to hotel rooms by two men, one of them the principal at their elementary school, the other a public official.

The press initially reported that the girls had many bruises on their bodies, including vaginal trauma. Later, the press unanimously changed its stories to report the men only took the girls to hotel rooms and did not have sexual relations with them. The stories avoided the word “rape.” The principal has been fired by the school, and the girls are undergoing one-on-one therapy to help them cope with the incident.

This is the latest of many scandals involving public servants and underage girls in China, where the age of consent is set at 14. From 2007 to 2008, more than 10 elementary school pupils, many under the age of 14, were forced to prostitute themselves to public officials. Similarly in 2008, nine girls were reportedly forced into prostitution, all of them under 14. In 2009, a high-ranking official in a provincial judicial bureau in Yunnan province slept with underage girls, according to QQ News.

What is most interesting and saddening is that in these cases, perpetrators are not always punished, owing to a loophole in the law. Having sex with anyone under the age of 14 was considered rape in China, consent or not, but the law was changed in 1997. Under this new law, with consent, even if a girl is under 14, the perpetrator may be allowed to go free as long as he claims not to know the girl is under 14. If, in addition, money is involved in the transaction, the perpetrator is usually prosecuted for “patronizing a prostitute,” which usually carries a sentence of five to 15 years in jail, instead of the far more serious crime of rape.

Only when a girl does not consent to sex is the perpetrator considered a rapist, a crime punishable by death in China. This is in sharp contrast with laws in most countries, where sex with someone under the age of consent is considered rape with or without consent, with the understanding that before that age, a child is not capable of legally giving consent.

It will be interesting to see how this case will be addressed, since the girls are clearly under 14, but with mainstream media aligned in denying sexual relations in this particular incident and avoiding the word “rape” altogether, netizens are as usual taking to Weibo, their only outlet, to express outrage and disbelief. They are calling for the repeal of the 1997 law. According to Zhang Lirong, an assistant professor at China Women’s University, the law, by relaxing the application of the death penalty associated with such cases, has encouraged an increase in sex with girls under the age of 14.

“Rape is rape, why call it ‘taking elementary school girls to a hotel’? Our media is so forgiving!” Weibo user 小鱼的褪色裤子 wrote. “If the editor-in-chief of a newspaper had a daughter in elementary school who came back after a whole night with vaginal trauma, would he simply say, someone took my daughter to a hotel room?”

“I called it when I saw newspapers kept saying, ‘a principal took students to a hotel room’. Hotel room was all over the media,” user 于立生 wrote. “They are leaving themselves wiggle room. Then I read the Xinhua [state-owned news agency] story and as expected, they are calling it ‘indecency with children’.”

“I believe they didn’t have sex with the kids,” 作家-天佑 wrote sarcastically. “They must have been using their spare time to tutor the students and help with their homework. The rest of us should learn from their selfless dedication.”

China's 'Child Rape Isn't Rape' Law Is Sparking Outrage

Source: http://www.******************/forum...-rape-law-sparking-outrage.html#ixzz2VGtnD85e

 

[gambit]

What is most interesting and saddening is that in these cases, perpetrators are not always punished, owing to a loophole in the law. Having sex with anyone under the age of 14 was considered rape in China, consent or not, but the law was changed in 1997. Under this new law, with consent, even if a girl is under 14, the perpetrator may be allowed to go free as long as he claims not to know the girl is under 14. If, in addition, money is involved in the transaction, the perpetrator is usually prosecuted for “patronizing a prostitute,” which usually carries a sentence of five to 15 years in jail, instead of the far more serious crime of rape.

A loophole in a law is generally -- GENERALLY -- the unintended consequence of the incompetency of the law making process. All legislatures have experienced, and always will experience, incidences in complex issues where unintended consequences are not adequately considered during the debating process.

Unintended consequences are not always unknown. Only inadequately considered in the planning of an action. For example: What happens if I drill into concrete? Either I get a nice round hole. Or the concrete cracks, ruining the project. The nice round hole is the intended consequence. The cracks are an unintended consequence. But that does not mean I am ignorant of both possibilities.

In this incidence, the fact that the lawmakers are willing to consider the possibility that a man can be so blind as to not know what an early teen girl looks like is troublesome.

 

[ice bomb]

A loophole in a law is generally -- GENERALLY -- the unintended consequence of the incompetency of the law making process. All legislatures have experienced, and always will experience, incidences in complex issues where unintended consequences are not adequately considered during the debating process.

Unintended consequences are not always unknown. Only inadequately considered in the planning of an action. For example: What happens if I drill into concrete? Either I get a nice round hole. Or the concrete cracks, ruining the project. The nice round hole is the intended consequence. The cracks are an unintended consequence. But that does not mean I am ignorant of both possibilities.

In this incidence, the fact that the lawmakers are willing to consider the possibility that a man can be so blind as to not know what an early teen girl looks like is troublesome.

In most of the cases it is hard to tell if a girl is 14 or 15. It is the borderline cases that are hard to judge.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

I think this was already posted.

 

[gambit]

In most of the cases it is hard to tell if a girl is 14 or 15. It is the borderline cases that are hard to judge.

Call me old fashioned, but I think adult men should have nothing to do with teen girls to start. Am not talking about 19, 18, or even 17 yr olds, girls on the cusp of being young women and productive members of society. But if a man is trying to determine if a girl is 15 instead of 14 to avoid legal prosecution, obviously he has no fear of moral prosecution.

 

[ice bomb]

Call me old fashioned, but I think adult men should have nothing to do with teen girls to start. Am not talking about 19, 18, or even 17 yr olds, girls on the cusp of being young women and productive members of society. But if a man is trying to determine if a girl is 15 instead of 14 to avoid legal prosecution, obviously he has no fear of moral prosecution.

I assume the law apply differently depends on your age. It is vast difference between a 15, 16 years boy who dont know better and a 40 years old guy. There are no excuses for the later.

 

[huskie]

maybe they should start a Dateline program in China as well.

Call me old fashioned, but I think adult men should have nothing to do with teen girls to start. Am not talking about 19, 18, or even 17 yr olds, girls on the cusp of being young women and productive members of society. But if a man is trying to determine if a girl is 15 instead of 14 to avoid legal prosecution, obviously he has no fear of moral prosecution.

 

[gambit]

I assume the law apply differently depends on your age. It is vast difference between a 15, 16 years boy who dont know better and a 40 years old guy. There are no excuses for the later.

When it comes to issues, I first look at any issue from a moral perspective, then to the legal perspective, if any.

To me, morally speaking, the legal age of 18 to qualify as an 'adult' is an acceptable compromise in the face that we cannot adequately assess the true intellectual and emotional maturity of anyone, male or female. So if you are an adult, man or woman, and in your 20s, then stay away from anyone under 18. If you are 19 yrs old, then it is acceptable to me if you are in a relationship with a 17 or even 16 yr old because both of you would be in roughly the same intellectual and emotional maturity stage of development.

Personally speaking, I have a problem with the 'age of consent' as low as mid-teens in many countries, particularly in European ones.

Ages of consent in Europe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The ages of consent vary by jurisdiction across Europe. Spain (age 13) has the lowest age limit, while Malta and Turkey are at the highest end (both age 18).

Any adult man/woman who gets involved with a 13 yr old CHILD is after only one thing: sex. There are no emotional and intellectual attachments here. There can be none. But if the legal allowance is there, then I will concede to the legal exploitation of that allowance by others while I morally restrains myself.

 

[Minjitta]

Does this law also apply to foreigners, like Japanese soldiers?

 

[Spring Onion]

dont post rape threads because Indians have a weak nerve to accept the reality BUT yeh please do post twisted titles of a law in China that is related to age of Consent issue NOT rape, but since Indians are in a rush to hide from the rape shame so they will twist it and post it again and again

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

dont post rape threads because Indians have a weak nerve to accept the reality BUT yeh please do post twisted titles of a law in China that is related to age of Consent issue NOT rape, but since Indians are in a rush to hide from the rape shame so they will twist it and post it again and again

You do realize that even consensual sex with an underage person is Statutory rape?

Your ignorance justifies the opening of this thread.

 

[Hellraiser007]

dont post rape threads because Indians have a weak nerve to accept the reality BUT yeh please do post twisted titles of a law in China that is related to age of Consent issue NOT rape, but since Indians are in a rush to hide from the rape shame so they will twist it and post it again and again

Good............ appease your higher than mountains and deeper than ocean friends, by ranting about India. That will save the day


This is the most brutal Law which is aiding pedophiles in China.

By this law lot of crimes are indeed not considered as crimes and so swept under carpet

 

[Spring Onion]

You do realize that even consensual sex with an underage person is Statutory rape?

Your ignorance justifies the opening of this thread.

Not my ignorance.

The law clearly says that if a Man who have sexual activity with the girl with her own consent but he does not know her actual age, it does NOT fall in satuttory rape even.

So basically a benefit of doubt in this case.

Even in India the debate was to lower age of consent further.

and if we even agree with you, then why YOU INDIANS are going bonker over actual daily rapes and hell bent to ban anything posted relating the rapes?

 

[xuxu1457]

If they really have sex with girl below 14years old, as past cases, will be Sentenced Life imprisonment or Death penalty, at least 20 years

Fortunately, nerely every hotel of China has CCTV,we can find truth by cctv

the school master open 2 room at one hotel lonly, and went in one room.

after some time, 4 students up by lift, two went in one room, while another two went in another room.

another man Feng open a room at another hotel with 2 students,

Feng went to a room with two students

Even they are not forced, but since they are below 14years old, two men will at least Sentenced 20 years, they are already arrested at 15th May, but after Forensic identification, Astonishing is the six girl's Hymens are not broken, Obscene or rape is still under survey

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

Not my ignorance.

The law clearly says that if a Man who have sexual activity with the girl with her own consent but he does not know her actual age,

So you support this law?

it does NOT fall in satuttory rape even.

My bad. My comment was from the perspective of Pakistan.



Also, my point being should sexual activity with underage be not considered Statutory rape?


So basically a benefit of doubt in this case.

Even in India the debate was to lower age of consent further.

There was concern of misuse of the law, but no changes though.

and if we even agree with you, then why YOU INDIANS are going bonker over actual daily rapes and hell bent to ban anything posted relating the rapes?

I don't know about the rest of them, i am fine as long Rape threads involve intellectually mature discussions.