If You Swear in the Bathroom, Teachers Get a Text... 'School Violence Prevention' Detector Developed in China

If Effective Through Pilot Operation, Expansion Planned
Messages Sent Immediately to Teachers When Profanity Detected

On the 10th of last month, a 13-year-old middle school student was brutally murdered and secretly buried by three classmates in Handan, Hebei Province, China, shocking Chinese society. In response, some regional schools have reportedly installed "swear word detectors" in blind spots such as restrooms where CCTV cannot be installed, to detect abusive language and prevent school violence.

Some schools in China have installed "swear word detectors" in blind spots where closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) cannot be installed, such as restrooms, to prevent school violence.
[Photo by Weibo]

On the 1st of this month, Chinese state media Guangming Wang and others reported that schools in regions such as Fuzhou in Fujian Province, Dehui in Jilin Province, and Zhangshan City in Zhejiang Province have installed "smart voice detectors" that detect abusive language or calls for help. This system, installed in security blind spots like school restrooms, sends an alert message to teachers' mobile phones or computers within 5 seconds upon detecting abusive language or calls for help. Chinese media reported that if the pilot operation proves effective, more schools are expected to adopt the system.

The Chinese education authorities' recent measure is seen as an extraordinary response amid growing attention to school violence following the shocking incident last month where three 13-year-old middle school students murdered and secretly buried a classmate. At that time, Jang and two others attending a middle school in Feixiang District, Handan City, assaulted their classmate Wang with a weapon to the extent that his facial features were unrecognizable. After Wang died, they secretly buried him in an abandoned vinyl greenhouse. They are suspected of premeditating the crime by digging a pit in advance and were known to have bullied the victim regularly.

Classmate Murder Case: Will It Be the First Case Applying the Revised Lowered Criminal Responsibility Age?

Unlike South Korea, where the age of criminal responsibility is 14, China recently revised its criminal law. Following a case where a 13-year-old boy murdered a 10-year-old girl and disposed of her body, China lowered the age of criminal responsibility for certain crimes such as intentional homicide and intentional injury from 14 to 12 years old in 2021.

Specifically, if a suspect aged between 12 and 14 commits a particularly brutal and serious offense, prosecution and criminal responsibility can be pursued with the approval of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Since all the suspects in this case are 13 years old, they fall under the scope of the revised criminal responsibility age. Chinese media analyzed that this classmate murder case will be the first to apply the criminal law amendment lowering the age of criminal responsibility.

Chinese netizens have also expressed strong calls for punishment on social networking services (SNS), saying things like "Don't excuse them because they are young," "Make sure they are held legally accountable," "Age should not be considered in murder cases," and "School violence should never be overlooked because of incidents like this."