Child molestation cases rise in S China

The increase in the number of child molestation cases in Guangdong province is on the rise, official documents showed.

Courts and procuratorates in different cities in the province have released since June research reports on the child molestation cases they have handled in the past three years.

The Yuexiu District People's Court in Guangzhou said on Aug 21 that the court has accepted eight child molestation cases since 2010, while less than three cases were filed to the court between 2004 and 2009.

Xia Weiming, deputy director of the court's division dealing with criminal cases involving minors, said that "most of the criminals in our cases are men in their twenties or thirties, single, and earning a bare living in the big city by doing manual labor jobs such as delivery men and security guards."

In Xia's opinion, schools should offer students more sex education classes. "Schools are reluctant to talk about sex, but people still have easy access to a sea of information nowadays, including pornography," said Xia.

In six out of eight cases, criminals were acquaintances of the victims. They easily won the victims' confidence because they were neighbors, teachers or parents' colleagues.

Xia's court's child molestation cases share some characteristics with those in other cities.

The Nanhai District People's Procuratorate in Foshan said on Aug 14 that it has brought eight people to trial for child molestation cases in the past year. Eight percent of the victims were the children of migrant workers.

The Dongguan No 3 People's Court also published a report on June 1 on the 13 child molestation cases it handled in the past three years.

Shu Meng contributed to this story.