Shanghai's first criminal conviction for "groping," and the Li Xincao case mired in a Rashomon-like mystery...

Shanghai's first criminal conviction for "indecent assault"?

On the morning of October 15, Shanghai's first criminal case involving "indecent assault" was heard in a closed session at the Jing'an District People's Court of Shanghai. The suspect, surnamed Wang, was sentenced to six months in prison for compulsory indecency.

On July 1, 34-year-old criminal suspect Wang XX repeatedly touched two female passengers on their chests and other body parts with his hands on Shanghai Metro Line 8, and one of the victims was a minor. Wang XX was sentenced to six months in prison for compulsory indecency. The report stated that this case was Shanghai's first criminal case of compulsory indecency in rail transit.

 A lawyer from Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm stated,This headline is clearly misleading. "Criminalization" refers to the incorporation of a certain act into the regulatory scope of criminal law through legislative means. This case can only be interpreted as the man's "groping" behavior reaching the level of "forcible indecency" as stipulated in the Criminal Law, and therefore being subject to criminal liability. It does not mean that "groping" has since become a concept in criminal law and is regulated by it. This is entirely different from well-known concepts such as "criminalization of exam cheating."

The autopsy results have not been released, but the official notice has been issued. The Li Xincao case is deeply mired in a "Rashomon" situation.

On the morning of October 14, Kunming police issued an announcement titled: Li Moucao's case was an accidental drowning incident and does not yet constitute a criminal offense.

It is worth noting that when describing the cause of Li Xincao's death, the notice stated: "According to the forensic identification conclusion of the Kunming Medical University Judicial Identification Center, the cause of Li Moucao's death is ."

 [1] In the conclusion of the autopsy, the official notice originally left a blank. [2] The following is the full text of the notice.

According to Li Xincao's side, the autopsy results are not yet available and will take 15-20 days. Could the police have already characterized the case without even seeing the autopsy report?

[4] In criminal cases, the police usually adopt a presumption of guilt, but in this case, before the autopsy report was released, the police had already tended to presume the three suspects innocent. The notice has now been deleted, but it cannot be denied that the police's notice has made the case even more confusing.

Exploiting legal loopholes to organize male prostitution, and the result is…

In the early years, there was a boss in Nanjing who ran an entertainment bar named Li Ning. Boss Li, finding the bar's profits too slow, advertised in the newspaper for "public relations" staff, opening up a new avenue for making money. However, Boss Li's path to wealth had two distinct differences:First, he was not recruiting female public relations staff, but male public relations staff; second, the male public relations staff he recruited were not serving women, but men.

This service quickly filled a gap in the market, and Boss Li made substantial profits from it. However, not long after, when Boss Li’s male escorts were conducting business, they were accidentally caught by police who had intended to arrest prostitutes. Then came case filing, investigation, and transfer to the procuratorate for review and prosecution.The charge is naturally "organizing prostitution."

Then a problem arose.

Boss Li hired a lawyer, and his defense attorney put forward a solid and sharp legal argument:

Neither the Criminal Law nor its relevant judicial interpretations explicitly stipulate whether sexual transactions between individuals of the same sex constitute prostitution. According to the relevant explanation in Cihai, prostitution refers to the act of “women selling their bodies.” Therefore, organizing men to engage in same-sex prostitution activities does not fall within organizing “prostitution.” Under the principle of “nullum crimen sine lege,” the “law” in “nullum crimen sine lege” refers only to the Criminal Law and its amendments. Even if Boss Li’s conduct is socially harmful, absent a provision in the Criminal Law, it cannot be punished as a crime.

Boss Li indeed exploited this loophole in the criminal law. He also indeed made money.

However... the professional committee did not let him off the hook.

After hearing the case report, the professional committee under the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress gave a concise oral response:"Organizing young men to engage in same-sex prostitution shall be convicted and sentenced by reference to the crime of organizing prostitution."

And just like that, Boss Li was ultimately sentenced to eight years in prison and fined 60,000 RMB.

(Some content in this article is cited from People's Daily, People's Daily Online, and Legal Reading. Infringement will be removed upon request.)