China’s public security organs have been acting swiftly in response to the recent national Special Actions on Combating Sexual Assault Crimes.
According to Xinhua News, a total of 28,600 sexual assault cases (including historic cases) have been solved, and 32,200 criminal suspects have been arrested since the launch of the special actions, reflecting a recent focus on the legal rights and interests of women and children.
The National Action Promotion Meeting on Combating Sexual Assault Crimes was held earlier this month, which again emphasized the special actions — requiring further strengthening of organizational leadership and timely crackdowns. Related departments and agencies should pay more attention to detecting these cases as well as discovering and investigating clues, and file cases to investigate and deal with the crime of sexual assault in a timely manner.
It is also necessary to strengthen the investigation of cases, take a “zero tolerance” approach, initiate investigations and handling systems for major sexual assault cases as soon as possible — especially those involving minors, and concentrate police resources to quickly detect and deal with them, according to the meeting. For sexual assault cases involving online dating, the emphasis should be placed on completely destroying criminal networks.
Related departments should continue to investigate historical sexual assault cases that have not been solved and hunt for fugitives, while also standardizing case-handling procedures, strengthening the protection of victims’ privacy, and avoiding secondary harm.
The police departments should strengthen communication and coordination with the procuratorial organs to unify the standards of evidence and punish sex offenders in a strict, severe and swift manner in accordance with the law.
Moreover, the Ministry of Public Security requires that all police departments should work together in jointly solving crimes and strengthen prevention and control by closely monitoring key areas.
In addition, the police departments should cooperate with other departments such as education, civil affairs, health, and women’s federations, and establish and improve work mechanisms ranging from case investigation to legal aid, counseling, assistance, and education and prevention.
