Protecting the young from crime

CHINA made constructive efforts in cracking down on crimes against minors while stressing victim protection and assistance in 2020, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said yesterday.

In the first 11 months of 2020, procurators approved the arrest of 34,700 individuals for crimes against minors and prosecuted 50,700 for such suspected crimes, said Shi Weizhong, a senior prosecutor with the SPP.

Shi said that in 2020, prosecutors offered special care to minor victims in 4,338 cases, 2.6 times that of the previous year.

To minimize further mental and emotional harm to the victims caused by reliving the traumatic experience during investigations, procurators across the country had set up over 1,000 specialized centers handling everything from evidence collecting to counseling as of October 2020.

The SPP, together with other central authorities, released a trial policy last May. It requires people working for the government and those having close contact with minors in workplaces to report any real or potential acts harming minors to the police.

Within four months after the policy was implemented, close to 500 cases were reported and prosecuted. Shi added many major child abuse cases were spotted promptly, thanks to doctors’ reporting as required.

More than 33,000 prosecutors acted as deputy principals in over 45,000 schools to advance legal education for students.

Tourists take photos in an ancient town in Bouyei-Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Qianxinan in southwest China’s Guizhou Province. A total of 4.1 billion domestic tourist trips will be made in China this year, a 42 percent surge from 2020, according to a report released by the China Tourism Academy yesterday. China will reap 3.3 trillion yuan (US$511 billion) in revenue from domestic tourism in 2021, an increase of 48 percent year on year, the report added. — CFP