Most sexual assault victims knew offenders
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E-mail China Daily, April 25, 2012
The men often tricked or intimidated the girls, which made the offenses hard to detect and led to repeated assaults. In many cases, the girls did not resist during the assaults or inform their parents or police afterward, according to the report.
In one case, a 13-year-old girl was raped by her uncle several times over the course of a year before the crime was uncovered, the report said.
Some sexual assault cases involving girls were not reported to the police, either because the girls were ignorant of the crimes, shameful or threatened. Although the judicial organizations punished the offenders, the rights of the majority of the victims did not receive proper attention and protection, the report said.
The victims did not receive psychological assistance after the assaults occurred, according to the report, and their families did not receive enough legal aid and financial compensation from the offenders.
The report blamed the immaturity of the girls, alcohol, insufficient custody and sex-related education, and inadequate security at kindergartens, schools and residential communities, as causes of the sexual assaults.
In one case, a man molested two girls after he lured them to his home by telling them, "I have a cute puppy", the report showed.
"We must pay high attention to the criminal cases of sexual assaults on girls in our province ... and take concrete measures to prevent and combat those crimes," Yang said.
The report suggested that a system be established to protect female sexual assault victims while the crimes are being prosecuted. It recommended that female investigators, prosecutors and judges be included in dealing with such cases.
The victims' privacy should be protected, and investigators should try to collect all of the facts during the initial phase of the investigation to prevent repeated interrogations of the victim, the report suggested.
Related legal aid, psychological aid and the State compensation system should be optimized and victims' requests for psychological compensation upheld.
The report said that public and school education on the protection of girls and sex education should be improved. Girl custody and protection in the community should be strengthened and educational institutions and personnel better managed, it said.
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