The most vicious stepmother

In March 2017, a child abuse case occurred in Weinan, Shaanxi. Pengpeng (pseudonym), only six years old, was abused by his stepmother surnamed Sun, resulting in 75% skull damage. He was sent to the hospital for treatment and has remained in a coma ever since. After identification, Pengpeng's injuries were classified as severe first-degree. Sun was subsequently detained by the police. The case will be publicly heard at the Linwei District People's Court in Weinan City, Shaanxi, at 9:00 AM on October 30, 2018. The prosecution accuses Pengpeng's stepmother Sun of two charges: intentional injury and child abuse.

After Pengpeng's biological parents divorced, he lived with his father in Weinan. In March 2017, Pengpeng was taken by his stepmother Sun to Weinan First Hospital, where he had no heartbeat or breathing. After resuscitation by doctors, Pengpeng regained his heartbeat and breathing, but had intracranial blood clots, brain tissue edema compressing the ventricles, and severe anemia. The police subsequently launched an investigation.

Due to the severity of his injuries, Pengpeng was transferred to several hospitals for treatment. After treatment, he eventually escaped life-threatening danger but remained in a coma. The hospital's "Diagnosis Certificate" showed that the child suffered from extremely severe traumatic brain injury due to head trauma, multiple soft tissue injuries throughout the body, a GCS score of 3 (the lowest) upon admission, fixed and dilated pupils bilaterally, loss of light reflex, cyanosis throughout the body, and a temporary cardiac arrest. The hospital's preliminary diagnosis was acute extremely severe traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and cerebral contusion and laceration.

(Pengpeng covered in bruises and injuries)

Incidents of child abuse are actually nothing new. But whenever we hear about children being trafficked, abused, or harmed in other ways, we feel particularly outraged! In 2017, a severe child abuse incident occurred at the Ctrip Parenting Kindergarten in Shanghai. Those responsible were prosecuted according to law, and although the final conviction is not yet known, public attention to child safety issues has reached a peak. However, the reality is that cases of children being harmed continue to occur frequently. As a legal scholar, I absolutely support the punishment of child abuse.

China's current laws on child protection are lacking. Although China's "Law on the Protection of Minors" (enacted in 1991 and revised in 2006) stipulates the obligations and legal responsibilities of entities protecting children's rights in terms of family protection, school protection, social protection, judicial protection, and the legal responsibilities of related parties, most provisions are programmatic and overly abstract. There are no clear and specific regulations on the responsibilities for violating this law, nor are there explicit standards for identifying neglect and abuse, procedures for accountability, or methods of punishment.

Therefore, in protecting children, we should learn from some foreign practices.

Foreign approaches to protecting children's rights and interests.

United States: In the United States today, laws and measures for protecting children's personal safety are very mature, with some regulations even reaching stringent levels. For example, US law mandates that certain professionals (such as doctors and teachers) have a legal duty to report suspected child abuse; failure to report when witnessing or suspecting physical harm to a child can result in criminal liability. In 1974, the US enacted its first federal child protection law—the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. Under this law, specialized agencies for handling child protection issues were successively established across various states. The process for addressing child protection cases includes: 1. Receiving reports; 2. Investigation and evidence collection; 3. Placement of the child; 4. Referral services; 5. Case closure.

United Kingdom: A trial allowing children to participate in court hearings has been implemented. Children aged 10 and above are permitted to enter the legal proceedings, enabling them to directly describe family disputes to the judge, express their views and feelings about the events, and answer the judge's questions. This allows the judge to analyze the circumstances and severity of the case based on the observations of these "special" and "specific" witnesses, thereby making more accurate judgments.

France: Uploading children's photos without permission is prohibited. With the prevalence of social networking sites, uploading photos and videos has become very convenient, leading many parents to share pictures of their children and family portraits with relatives and friends or post them on various social pages to "show off happiness." While most people have yet to realize the potential dangers of this practice, France has already taken the lead by enacting strict laws requiring parents to protect their children's privacy and image rights. If children later object to their parents' arbitrary uploading of photos and file lawsuits, the parents could face fines of up to 45,000 euros and a year in prison.

French internet expert Viviane Gers stated: "Parents have a responsibility to protect their children's images. Nowadays, we often criticize teenagers' online behavior, but in reality, adult parents must also be cautious." French lawmakers have considered an even broader scope, extending their focus to the illegal collection of children's images for criminal activities. They have informed the public that the purpose of regulating online children's photos is to prevent these images from falling into the hands of pedophiles or being exploited by identity thieves. France now mandates that parents remove nude photos of their children from the internet, even if the children are still infants.

　　How are sentences determined for intentional injury and abuse?

As mentioned earlier, the prosecution has charged Pengpeng's stepmother, surnamed Sun, with intentional injury and abuse. So, how will these two charges be sentenced?

　　I. Crime of Intentional Injury:

1. Whoever intentionally injures the body of another person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance.

2. Whoever intentionally injures the body of another person, causing serious injury, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years.

3. Whoever intentionally injures the body of another person, causing death, or causing serious injury by particularly cruel means resulting in severe disability, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than seven years, life imprisonment, or death.

4. Where the intentional injury of another person's body is otherwise provided for in this Law, those provisions shall apply. This refers to cases where other intentional crimes are committed, and the act also injures the body of another person. Specifically, for crimes marked with phrases such as "causing serious injury" or "causing heavy losses to public property, the state, or the interests of the people" in the provisions of this Law, conviction and sentencing shall be based on the respective articles of this Law, and this article shall no longer apply. For example, if arson, breaching dikes, explosion, or poisoning causes serious injury, conviction and sentencing shall be based on Article 115 of this Law; if rape of a woman or sexual intercourse with a female child causes serious injury to the victim, conviction and sentencing shall be based on Article 236 of this Law; if unlawful detention causes serious injury, conviction and sentencing shall be based on Article 238 of this Law; if robbery causes serious injury, conviction and sentencing shall be based on Article 263 of this Law.

　　II. Crime of Maltreatment:

1. Those who commit this crime shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than two years, criminal detention, or public surveillance. If the crime causes serious injury or death to the victim, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than two years but not more than seven years.

2. Any person who has the duty of care or guardianship over minors, the elderly, the sick, or the disabled and maltreats the person under their care or guardianship, if the circumstances are egregious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention.

3. If a unit commits the crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the unit shall be fined, and the directly responsible supervisors and other directly responsible personnel shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

4. If an act of maltreatment also constitutes another crime, the offender shall be convicted and punished according to the provision with the heavier penalty.

5. Causing serious injury or death to the victim refers to situations where the victim gradually suffers severe physical damage or death due to long-term maltreatment, or commits suicide resulting in death or serious injury because they cannot bear the prolonged abuse. The perpetrator intentionally commits the maltreatment but negligently causes the result of serious injury or death, and there is a causal relationship under criminal law between the maltreatment and the consequence of serious injury or death.

6. According to criminal law, maltreatment of family members shall only be handled upon complaint (except when the victim is unable to file a complaint or is under control); maltreatment of persons under guardianship by those with caregiving duties or institutions is not subject to the complaint requirement, and the procuratorial authority shall initiate a public prosecution in accordance with the law.