2 men jailed for paid sex with underage girl
By Chen Boyuan
China.org March 4, 2015
Two men in Sichuan Province have been convicted for rape for having sex with a 13-year-old girl at a brothel and were sentenced to five years in prison each.
The case drew public attention one year ago as the local prosecutor in Qionglai charged the two men of rape, instead of "having sex with an underage girl," in the first ever handling of such a case in China.
The conviction received acclaim from both the legal circle and the public as it was consistent with the Supreme People's Court's approval of abolishing the "crime of having paid, consensual sex with an underage girl."
The prosecutor deemed the two men aware that the girl was under 14 years old, the age of consent, when they paid to have sex with her, and having sex with girls who are younger than 14 years old should be treated as rape and prosecuted accordingly.
There has been heated debate over how to define the crime of having consensual sex with girls younger than 14. China's Criminal Law stipulates a penalty of 5-15 years in prison for "consensual, paid sex with girls younger than 14 years' old," which can be applied to those over the age of 16. By contrast, the law stipulates a maximum of a death sentence for raping underage girls, applicable to those who are at least 14 years old.
The public tends to think stereotypically that the "crime of having paid consensual sex with young girls" involve a lighter offence because the maximum penalty is 15 years in prison whereas the maximum penalty for rape is the death sentence. Therefore, the cap on sentencing limits the punishment for serious and repeat offenders.
Legal experts also pointed out the fundamental difference between the two offences is the identity of the victim. The crime of having paid consensual sex with young girls considers the girls prostitutes, and is inconsistent with the criminal law's spirit of protecting minors.
