2016年CRI China's Courts Sound Alarm on Malicious School Violence

 

A statement from the High People's Court in Beijing shows the city's courts have heard about 200 criminal cases related to school violence in the past five years.

The same statement says 14 percent of these cases involved malicious¹ insults, slaps to the face, victims burned with cigarettes, or stripped naked for photos.

It also says crimes involving assaults, including fighting in public, constitute 78 percent of the school violence cases.

More than 60 percent of the cases were committed by juveniles² and a majority of the perpetrators were male, while the victims were almost all students.

Song Yanhui with China Youth University of Political Studies is an expert of youth problems.

"Bullying³ activities usually take place between parties acquainted with each other. They were from the same class, or from the same school. It's usually committed in the way of the big bullying the small, or many bullying one."

On the same day, Shandong's courts reported local criminal cases involving minors⁴ had fallen slightly in the past five years, but violent behavior and even murders accounted for a larger proportion.

And the courts in Tianjin said school violence in the city had increased, mostly involving youth gangs, with junior high school students the most frequent offenders⁵.

School bullying has been rising sharply in China in recent years.

Meanwhile, a number of videos of youngsters bullying or beating up their peers have been uploaded online in recent years.

Song Yanhui says these videos may make the situation worse.

"When teenagers don't know how to handle a problem properly, they may look for solutions on the internet, where they could learn some malicious behaviors that they had never known."

The China Youth & Children Research Center conducted a survey last year.

The results show over 32 percent of the nearly 6,000 primary and middle school students questioned were bullied⁶ occasionally, while about 6 percent were constantly bullied by older students.

Schools and families have been urged to do more to improve the situation.

In China, many schools refuse to admit the existence of violence due to concerns over tarnished⁷ reputations, while some parents even confuse violent crimes with childish fighting or some insignificant⁸ prank⁹, which they respond to with silence.

Meanwhile, there are also calls for a new law on school security, which is expected to clearly define the legal responsibilities of government, schools and families.

Many members of the public are also suggesting tougher penalties, after three Chinese girls got heavy jail terms earlier this year in the US for torturing a schoolmate.

But prosecutor¹⁰ Pan Duwen from Beijing's Haidian District suggests the law may not do everything.

"If there is no change to the way a person thinks, there would be no change to the way the one behaves, even after a jail term. So it's important to change the way of thinking."

A nationwide campaign against school bullying is underway and will last eight months.

But some experts say another option may be to put more social workers on campus.

1 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

2 juveniles   

n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 )；扮演少年角色的演员；未成年人

参考例句：

• Do you think that punishment for violent crimes should be the same for juveniles and adults? 你对暴力犯罪的惩罚对于青少年和成人应一样吗？ 来自生活英语口语25天快训
• Juveniles Should we not exactly in need of such strength and conviction? 少年的我们难道不正是需要这种力量和信念吗？ 来自互联网

3 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

6 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 tarnished   

（通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏

参考例句：

• The mirrors had tarnished with age. 这些镜子因年深日久而照影不清楚。
• His bad behaviour has tarnished the good name of the school. 他行为不轨，败坏了学校的声誉。

8 insignificant   

adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的

参考例句：

• In winter the effect was found to be insignificant.在冬季，这种作用是不明显的。
• This problem was insignificant compared to others she faced.这一问题与她面临的其他问题比较起来算不得什么。

9 prank   

n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己

参考例句：

• It was thought that the fire alarm had been set off as a prank.人们认为火警报警器响是个恶作剧。
• The dean was ranking the boys for pulling the prank.系主任正在惩罚那些恶作剧的男学生。

10 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。