Welcome move to protect kids from abusers

Two left-behind children in Southwest China's Guizhou province, May 3, 2014. [Photo/IC]

The Minhang district people's procuratorate has made arguably the country's first attempt to specify the professions inaccessible to sex offenders－for good reason. More preemptive, targeted efforts have been made by local judicial authorities to keep at bay child molesters, who have the tendency to sexually exploit the children of their friends and even family members, and might keep doing so if the victims remain silent.

Last year the procuratorate authorities in Cixi, East China's Zhejiang province, authorized disclosing the information on those who have committed major sex crimes against minors after their release or during their probation period. Such judicial trials have been welcomed by the public, as many child abusers, who traumatize the victims for life, are tempted to continue their criminal habits even after serving time in prison.

Sex crime against minors, as an official at the Supreme People's Court said two months ago, is on the rise in terms of numbers and severity. Often targeting the children they know well, most child abusers are habitual sex offenders and continue to prey on children until the exploited minors reveal their sufferings to their parents or elders.

Child abusers in some countries are subject to harsh penalties, from prolonged probation and community service to real-time surveillance through a GPS-enabled ankle monitor. These punishments are not to stigmatize the criminals or estrange them from society but to help them reform their ways.

What the Minhang district people's procuratorate has decided to do marks a step toward better juvenile protection. That is not enough, though, because the restraining order only applies to one district in Shanghai. Potential or released criminals could still find ways to exploit teenagers elsewhere, warranting a nationwide mechanism to keep them under close watch and away from kids.