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China’s Hangzhou Reveals Subway Sex Offenders’ Names

Fri, 07 Jul 2023
Categories: China Legal Trends

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The Hangzhou government posted on its website the administrate penalty documents for indecent acts on the metro, along with the names of sex offenders.

According to the documents, between March and May 2023, the metro police have dealt with nearly ten cases of indecent acts and invasion of privacy on the metro, involving acts of molestation and taking upskirt photos of female passengers with cell phones.

For instance, one of the documents shows that Chen molested Li by touching her with his hands and rubbing her buttocks with his genitals on Hangzhou Metro Line Two train at around 18:30 on 1 Mar. 2023. The public security organ decided to give Chen administrative detention of 12 days of administrative penalty.

Since then, a questionnaire on “Do you think it is appropriate for the Hangzhou government to publish the full names of sex offenders” has received over 560,000 votes. 97% of the voters chose “it is appropriate because it can serve as a deterrent,” while 3% chose “it is not appropriate because the legitimate rights and interests of the person being punished should also be protected.”

There is also a view that it is legal to publish the names and behaviors of sex offenders. According to the “Regulations on Law Enforcement Disclosure by Public Security Organs” (公安机关执法公开规定) issued by China’s Ministry of Public Security, the public security organs shall take the initiative to disclose information on law enforcement that involves public interest and general public concern and needs to be known by the public.

 

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team

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