Students who are abused by domestic violence in school but remain silent? More support is needed for mandatory reporting

More support is needed for mandatory reporting systems

In the past September, the deputy principal and security director of a primary school in Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, were punished by government affairs warnings and administrative records respectively.

The reason is that when it was discovered that a student had been abused by the family, the school remained silent.

The end result of this domestic violence was extremely tragic, the child was beaten to death, and the abusive father and grandmother were sentenced to death and a suspended death.

When handling the case, the People's Procuratorate of Yuci District, Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, found that the school had not reported the child's condition, so it transferred the clues of the school's violation of discipline and law to the Supervision Commission for accountability. The Yuci District Supervision Commission issued a penalty after investigation, and the case became the first case in Shanxi Province to be punished by the Supervision Commission for the failure of the relevant responsible person to perform the mandatory reporting system.

"If mandatory reporting obligations had been actively fulfilled and the police had intervened in a timely manner, this tragedy might have been avoided." The prosecutor handling the case has said.

The so-called compulsory reporting means that when a clue that a minor has suffered or is suspected of having suffered unlawful abuse is discovered, the case shall be immediately reported or reported to the public security organ. On the eve of Children's Day in 2020, China issued the Opinions on Establishing a Mandatory Reporting System for Cases of Abuse of Minors (for Trial Implementation) (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which stipulates that the reporters include workers in schools, hospitals, hotels and other industries closely related to minors.

Since the implementation of the "Opinions" for more than a year, relevant cases have begun to appear in various localities. In Hangzhou, a 14-year-old girl was twice molested by school security guards. After she told the teacher, the teacher signed a compensation agreement privately with the student's family and security guards, and the girl reported the case herself. Finally, due to the knowledge of "not reporting", the teacher was suspended from the evaluation of excellence, promotion and promotion qualifications. In the past 19 years, two primary school teachers in Hunan have raped 9 underage women, including 8 underage girls under the age of 14. As early as 2017, some parents reported the situation to the school, but the principal did not report it, resulting in the two teachers continuing to commit crimes many times. After the incident, the vice president of the school was dealt with according to law for dereliction of duty.

As the cases were announced, Xu Fuhai, an associate researcher at the Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, completed two papers examining the development of mandatory reporting in China and the United States. He has investigated in many places and found that mandatory reports are implemented in China, and relevant implementation policies, supporting mechanisms and coordination mechanisms need to be established.

"Posting 'opinions' is just the beginning." He imagined the future of mandatory reporting for reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily: he hoped that more groups would become "mandatory reporters" to minimize abuse and harm to children.

In Linxi County, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, the front desk of each hotel has a warning sign that reads "Minors are prohibited from staying alone without a guardian", and the hotel operator and staff sign a letter of responsibility and commitment to accept minors. In the past two years, the Linxi County People's Procuratorate has not accepted any more cases of sexual abuse of minors in hotels, and the number of cases of sexual abuse of minors has dropped by 45% compared with the same period.

Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, uses an intelligent information system, if an adult takes a minor into a hotel, the system can check the information of both sides, and once it is determined that the non-guardian or non-family relationship is determined, it will immediately issue an early warning to the police.

According to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the "Opinions" were implemented for three months, and nearly 500 cases were filed and examined for prosecution through mandatory reports across the country.

As of May 2021, the Jiangsu Provincial Procuratorate has received a total of 276 mandatory reporting leads, involving sexual assault, abandonment, abuse, intentional injury, intentional homicide, etc.

The reporters come from multiple departments. Since 2021, the Hunan Provincial People's Procuratorate has discovered and investigated 56 cases of crimes against minors through the mandatory reporting system, including 26 reports from schools, 17 reports from medical institutions, 11 reports from other organizations and public employees exercising public power, 1 report from social work agencies, and 1 report from hotels and guesthouses.

However, there are still procurators in many places who have reported that the implementation of the mandatory reporting system still has problems such as low awareness rate and concerns of the reporter.

Zhou Rui, director of the Sixth Procuratorate of the People's Procuratorate of Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province, once visited a hospital at the township level, and "the leaders knew that there was such a thing (the mandatory reporting system), but they couldn't say what it was." At the health center, many doctors told him that he had never heard of it.

Zhou Rui combed through the cases of sexual abuse of minors in Guangyuan City from January 2019 to April 2020, and found that a quarter of the cases occurred in hotels and inns. In April 2020, he held a discussion with more than 30 hotel operators.

At the meeting, some people complained that the perpetrators would not go to strictly manage star-rated hotels, but preferred to take minors to family hotels, with fewer employees and difficult to manage. One of the hotels had a case of infringement on the rights and interests of minors. The operator recalled that it was the adults who registered the identity information at the front desk at that time, and the minors involved slipped into the hotel through the back door.

After listening to the decision, Zhou Rui wrote suggestions to promote the fine management of public security in Guangyuan City. Later, the Guangyuan Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a notice that once it is found that minors are staying alone in the hotel, or that the minor women have drunk and other abnormal states before checking in, the hotel must report to the police station under its jurisdiction.

Since the introduction of the "Opinions", Zhou Rui statistics, Guangyuan City compulsory reporting rate continues to rise, the number of cases of sexual abuse of minors has a downward trend, the only case involving failure to perform the compulsory reporting responsibility or in the hotel, the staff found that minors were drunk and did not report, resulting in minors being sexually assaulted.

Zhou Rui suggested that the public security organs punish the hotel in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and support the victims in prosecuting the infringers, and treat the hotel as jointly and severally responsible.

The willingness to "report" is not strong, which plagues Xu Jin, director of the Eighth Procuratorial Department of the People's Procuratorate of Nantong City, Jiangsu Province. Schools face the pressure of assessment in the education system and are reluctant to take the initiative to report negative information; and parents are worried that after reporting the case, it will have an impact on their children's reputation.

A local underage woman was pregnant, and the doctor did not report it after finding out. Xu Jin dragged on the case, interviewed the medical staff of the hospital involved in the case and many other hospitals, and found that the staff of the Nantong Municipal Health Commission did not send the "opinions" to all units in time, so that almost all the medical staff in the city did not know that the mandatory reporting system had been implemented.

She immediately sent pre-litigation procuratorial suggestions for public interest litigation to the Health Commission, and only then did she plug this "loophole" in a timely manner.

In a paper entitled "Research on the Compulsory Reporting of Cases of Violations against Minors", the authors' survey of some primary school teachers in Hangzhou showed that only 26% of teachers would directly report to the police after discovering clues to minors, and 33% would report to the higher authorities; 80% of teachers believed that calling the police or reporting to the competent departments would expand the seriousness of the situation and bring adverse effects.

In May 2021, the Supreme People's Procuratorate implemented a mandatory investigation mechanism for each case of violations against minors, and more "rigidly" restrained the "non-reporting" behavior of responsible units or personnel, and if serious consequences were caused, the department would be punished, and the staff would be punished, constituting criminal liability for violations and crimes.

In rural areas, the main reporters of child abuse include child directors, most of whom are women directors or village directors of village committees. Xu Fuhai's investigation found that most of the matters reported by these "directors" were related to sexual assault and serious physical injury, and rarely reported that minors had been in poor supervision or neglect for a long time, and "some rural residents do not think that neglect is an abuse."

He tried to persuade them that if the Children's Director found that the parents had neglected and indifferent to the minor, causing serious psychological trauma, they should report it. A children's director once retorted on the spot that this is a family affair and should not be "nosy". What's more, mental abuse of minors is more difficult to identify than traumatic injury.

Zhou Rui said that many places lack professionals who can provide psychological counseling for adolescents, especially in rural areas, and some minors have to go to urban areas to receive psychological treatment after being violated.

One scholar felt that more supporting measures were needed to protect minors who had already been violated.

For example, in some places, there is a lack of temporary resettlement sites for minors, and the rescued children can only be temporarily placed in the police station and sent to the female police to take care of them. Not long after, the child "turned the sky upside down", and the police station could only urge the civil affairs department to "take people away quickly".

During Xu Fuhai's study visit in the United States, he could not leave his 11-year-old son at home alone, and his son did not dare to have trauma.

The researcher, who has long lived in China, is accustomed to hearing that "it is difficult for officials to break housework", but found that Americans like to "stare at neighbors", and when they hear the scolding and crying next door, they will report it immediately, and even convenience store clerks and restaurant waiters will take the initiative to report clues to children when they work.

At the end of the 19th century, there were a large number of child abuse incidents in the United States, and in the second half of the 20th century, a mandatory reporting and feedback mechanism was established. Xu Fuhai also regards China's improvement of the mandatory reporting system as a protracted battle, "it will not be achieved overnight, it may take several years or more than a decade of efforts."

Zheng Ziyin, director of Guangdong Nuochen (Baiyun) Law Firm, remembers a case in which a citizen found that the child next door was always sleeping in the corridor at night, so he found a lawyer and a social worker. Later, the police and the street office intervened to help the abused child.

In response to that "opinion", Zheng Ziyin felt that the word "suspected" was the most special. This means that the reporter can report as long as he finds a "suspected" clue, without worrying about being blamed for reporting an erroneous clue.

He often goes to school to preach, before the "opinion" is introduced, the teacher's favorite question is "what situation is the report" and "what to do if the error is reported", at present, the answer can be found in the "opinion".

He also advocated rewarding positive reporters, and the education bureau of a district in Guangzhou received a "commendation letter" issued by the procuratorate because it actively reported relevant clues. Also rewarded with the Nantong Municipal Procuratorate, netizens found videos of suspected sexual abuse of minors on the Internet, took the initiative to report to the public security organs, and received a cash reward of 5,000 yuan from the procuratorate.

Zheng Ziyin summed up China's mandatory reporting system as "late in its start and fast in progress." One scholar analyzed that in China, the promotion of mandatory reporting relies more on legal propaganda; when the United States first started, it relied on more and more precedents.

To date, the United States has introduced at least 20 major regulations for children. Medical personnel, early childhood education, police, social service personnel are also included in the scope of mandatory reporters, and a nationwide child helpline has been established.

Canada, Australia, South Africa, India and other countries have enacted legislation to establish mandatory reporting systems, some of which target not only children, but also elderly people suspected of being abused or neglected, and those who are unable to take care of themselves.

In the process of experimentation and exploration, many countries have introduced new initiatives. Canada provides that the reporter can be "anyone" and not limited to a particular occupation for a lead involving child pornography. Corporal punishment is completely prohibited in Sweden, and the physical punishment of children by parents may constitute abuse.

In some Australian states, children witnessing domestic violence, which causes serious psychological harm, also constitutes child abuse and requires mandatory reporting;

Few people know the origins of mandatory reporting.

In 1873, in New York, a girl named Mary was "as pitiful as a critter," and her adoptive mother often beat her for no reason, leaving her hungry and doing rough work. She slept on the cold floor and was locked in a dark cupboard, not allowed to go out or talk to other people.

The neighbor asked the priest to visit his home and discovered Mary's secret. After the pastor reported the case, because of the lack of relevant laws, it was impossible to file a case, so he had to ask for help everywhere.

Finally, the Society for the Protection of Animals intervened in the child abuse. They brought a judicial action on the grounds that "children are also animals" and demanded that adoptive mothers be sanctioned under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Under the testimony of neighbors, the adoptive mother was sentenced to one year in prison.

Mary was later raised by the positively reported pastor and raised 6 children with her husband, living to the age of 92. She was born in New York, and because of her case, founded the first society in the United States to prevent child abuse.

China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter Wei Xi

Source: China Youth Daily