11.06.2009

Gang Rape Ruled ‘Temporary Crime on a Whim’

I Was Assaulted By This Man Who Identified Him...Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr

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Youth Times

On October 29, the Nanxun Court in Huzhou City, Zhejiang province sentenced a rape case. Two defendants raped a girl who had just finished high school and were judged guilty, and each of the men received a three-year-prison term. The criminal charge was identified as a “temporary crime on a whim” (临时性的即意犯罪), so relatively light sentences were imposed.

But most people haven’t heard the phrase “temporary crime on a whim”, so this judgment attracted a huge controversy. Within a few days, the discussion on the matter was very hot at Tianya, NetEase and other forums. A netizen questioned that he had only heard of temporary worker and temporary plan, but not temporary, permanent or long-term rape. Some netizens suspected the court was cheating on this case in order to let the two defendants off easy.

Background of the Case:

On the evening of June 10, 2009, two men, Qiu and Cai who were employed as civilian police assistants in the city of Hangzhou, took out two girls, Chen and Shen, for dinner. All of them had a lot of alcohol. Chen is not a good drinker, so she was very intoxicated when the dinner was over.

In order to sober Chen up, Cai took everybody with his car to a hotel and rented a room. After they got into the room, Qiu and Cai sexually assaulted Chen while she was unconscious and unable to resist. When Chen woke up, she found herself lying naked in a bed in a hotel room.

The local court in Hangzhou, based on the facts of the case, decided that the the crime was temporary because there was no discussion before the crime was committed. Afterward, the defendants surrendered to the police and tried to make amends with the victim, so the court sentenced an appropriately mitigating punishment: the two defendants would get three years’ imprisonment.

Chinese netizens’ Comments-If the judge could mitigate the cruelty of “temporary rape,” then what about “temporary robbery and murder”?


The sentence was posted online, and it immediately led to a huge discussion among netizens. Online commenters put forward their different opinions of the “temporary crime”.





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