A 19-year-old barbershop apprentice in Shanghai suffers from "social phobia" and robs with a knife just to get into prison and stay away from the crowds

"Social phobia" is referred to as "social phobia", on the Internet, many young people use it to laugh at themselves and express anxiety and fear of social interaction. However, "social fear" is not only self-deprecating, but also a subtype of horror neurosis, and for some people, it is a real disease. Wang Mou, a 19-year-old teenager who apprenticed in a barbershop in Shanghai, was a patient who, in order to escape the ubiquitous crowd, even came up with the idea of robbing with a knife and hiding in prison.

"I'm always thinking wildly, I can't stop thinking, thinking about things is very complicated, my brain is very messy, and I am also disgusted with people around me, and I feel very noisy." Facing the procurator of the Shanghai Songjiang District People's Procuratorate, Wang told his story.

The juvenile took the initiative to turn himself in after the robbery was unsuccessful

Wang was originally an apprentice in a barbershop, and he could learn his craft by eating and wrapping up. However, because of his "social phobia", he hates to deal with people, resulting in the inability to concentrate on learning, the progress of the craft is very slow, and he cannot make much money. This, in turn, made him even more depressed, already troubled by his illness. "I just wanted to go to jail, to escape from everything outside the world for a while, to get away from the crowd." Wang said.

The day before Chinese New Year's Eve night in 2021, Wang began to implement his "prison plan". He took a fruit knife with him, found a small convenience store that few people visited, and began to rob it. After Wang took a cigarette handed to him by the owner of the convenience store, he took two steps back timidly before taking the knife in his pocket, waving it at random to show threats, and said to the boss: "I want to rob, you call the police." ”

The boss thought he was joking and ignored him. Wang Mou had no way, simply took a cigarette and walked outside the door, the boss saw the situation, beckoned him to come back to pay, he obediently walked back to the store, and once again said to the boss: "I robbed, you quickly call the police!" The boss still ignored it, and casually took the cigarette in Wang's hand and put it back on the shelf. In desperation, Wang Mou could only call the police at the door of the store and surrender himself.

There are many people who claim to have "social fears", but when such a ridiculous idea is generated and put into practice, Wang's situation is obviously very different from that of self-deprecators on the Internet. Therefore, after Wang was arrested, the judicial organ asked a professional appraisal institution to conduct a mental examination of him. The results of the examination are consistent with the results of his self-examination in early 2019, and he suffers from "mixed anxiety disorder" and often thinks wildly and feels irritable. The appraisal results held that Wang had the capacity to limit criminal liability in this case and also had the ability to be tried. So, in March 2021, the public security organs asked the Songjiang procuratorate to approve his arrest.

Jail time is not good to cure "social fear"

According to the various evidence in the case, Wang's behavior is indeed enough to constitute the crime of robbery. But can jail time really help this young man cure his "social fears"?

With this question in mind, the undertaking prosecutor consulted a psychiatric expert. After some exchanges, both of them believed that if Wang Was arrested and detained, he would not be able to get effective treatment, and the fish and dragons in the place of supervision would cause his illness to worsen. The victim in this case, the convenience store owner, also said that he did not regard Wang's behavior as robbery at all, did not feel threatened at all, and was willing to issue a letter of understanding, hoping not to pursue Wang's criminal responsibility.

At this time, Wang Moushang was detained in the detention center, and the procurator was worried that if he was released on guarantee pending further investigation, Wang would choose to commit another crime in order to "go to prison". To this end, the prosecutor contacted Wang's father, who said that since Wang became ill, he was very resistant to dealing with people, and the same was true for his family, so he also tried to avoid meeting Wang. Now that the child has an accident, if the procuratorate makes a decision not to approve the arrest, she will definitely spend energy to take good care of him.

Subsequently, procurators invite people's supervisors to participate in public hearings and reviews in accordance with legal procedures. At the hearing, the people's supervisors unanimously held that with Wang's current mental condition, social and family help is necessary, and detention pending trial will only aggravate his illness, and agreed to take non-custodial compulsory measures against Wang. In March 2021, the procuratorial organs made a decision not to approve Wang's arrest after comprehensive consideration, and the public security organs changed the compulsory measures for Wang to release on guarantee pending further investigation.

Wang Mou temporarily left the detention center, but he was bent on going to prison, and he was actually reluctant to accept this leniency from the procuratorate.

Multiple parties work together to get back on the right track

The Matsue Procuratorate also thought of this.

A people's supervisor who participated in the public hearing, from the Shanghai Municipal Association of Social Workers, said that she could introduce a hospital volunteer work for Wang and provide volunteer help for medical personnel to use smart phones to make appointments and register. After discussion, everyone believes that operating the app on the mobile phone is not difficult for young people, there will be no pressure like learning haircuts, and the consultation is also one-on-one communication, and there is no need to contact too many people at once, which can avoid social distress. At the same time, the psychological satisfaction after helping others is also a positive incentive for Wang after socialization.

After communicating with Wang, he agreed to accept the job and quickly took up his post. The procurator also contacted psychological experts to conduct psychological counseling for Wang on many occasions, helping him to correctly face his illness and scientifically treat him. According to the feedback from the hospital, Wang performed well in volunteer work and was praised for collecting gold. Although there will still be situations such as not daring to open their mouths and talking to people and not daring to look directly at each other, psychological experts believe that the treatment of mental illness should be treated with enough patience, and Wang's performance has made great progress.

In June 2021, the case was transferred for review for prosecution. The procurator who undertook the case interrogated Wang again. This time, Wang's mental outlook was obviously much more perked up, and he deeply regretted his previous actions. Although he admitted guilt and accepted punishment as before, this time, he did not want to go to the detention center to "treat his illness" anymore.

After a comprehensive assessment of the motive, means of committing the crime, and harmful consequences, the Songjiang Procuratorate determined that Wang's subjective malignancy was not large, the social harm of the criminal act was small, and there were statutory and discretionary mitigating circumstances such as voluntary surrender, plea circumstances, and obtaining the victim's forgiveness, also because it was a person with limited criminal responsibility who could be given a mitigated or mitigated punishment in accordance with law, and met the conditions for not arresting and not prosecuting. After a public hearing, the Songjiang Procuratorate formally made a decision not to prosecute Wang.

A year has passed since the occurrence of the case, and the procurator who undertook the case still pays attention to Wang's growth through the WeChat work group, and provides advice and necessary help for his study, employment and treatment. Volunteers and caring people in the group also continued to find a way out for his subsequent life, helping him apply for relevant subsidies, taking him to the Open University to consult the majors he could apply for, and connecting him to learn technology and trades.

Source: Shangguan News