"Even 10-Year-Olds Should Be Executed"... Why Is Chinese Public Sentiment Boiling Over?

"Hatred Toward Women Arises from Mother’s Discipline" Statement
Maximum Life Sentence Expected... Calls for 'Death Penalty' Grow Louder

In China, public opinion is surging for the death penalty to be carried out on juvenile violent offenders after a teenage boy brutally murdered an 8-year-old girl.

The living image of an 8-year-old princess killed by a teenager. [Image source: Captured from Chinese social networking service (SNS)]

On the 26th, the New York Times (NYT) and local Chinese media reported that the first trial of Xiao Rang (a pseudonym), accused of murdering Gong Yang, was held at the Longxi County Court in Gansu Province. Xiao Rang is accused of killing Gong Yang with a weapon he had prepared in advance in a village in Tongwei County, Dingxi City, Gansu Province, where about 40 households live, on September 25, 2022. Despite Xiao Rang’s young age, the extremely brutal method of murder shocked many Chinese who heard about the case.

Xiao Rang stated that he committed the crime due to hatred toward women, which developed because he disliked his mother’s disciplinary methods. Xiao Rang’s mother, Ms. Chen, admitted in an interview with local media that her son was bullied by classmates who threatened him to eat feces, and that she had also hit him over academic issues.

Xiao Rang has shown no remorse for his wrongdoing. On the contrary, he remains indifferent and does not repent. Because of this, there is an opinion that he could receive the maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Su Mingwei, associate professor at the Law School of Beijing Normal University, explained, “Since the death penalty does not apply to minors, if a serious crime is established and the nature of the crime is very bad, the maximum life sentence can be imposed, and the minor can be incarcerated in a juvenile detention center.”

However, Gong Yang’s father was outraged upon learning that the law prohibits the death penalty for minors. The fact that Xiao Rang, who was 13 years old at the time of the crime, was prosecuted and brought to trial is due to a recent amendment to the criminal law that lowered the age of criminal responsibility. Previously, in response to another case where a 13-year-old boy murdered a 10-year-old girl and disposed of the body, China lowered the age of criminal responsibility for certain crimes such as intentional homicide and intentional injury from 14 to 12 years old starting March 2021. Nevertheless, due to the continued violent crimes committed by other teenagers, public opinion in China is now demanding that juvenile offenders be eligible for the death penalty following this case.

After Gong Yang’s murder, it is reported that the victim’s family was devastated, leading to growing sympathy. Gong Yang’s grandfather, who took care of her while her father worked more than 160 km away, became so shocked that he wasted away to a skeletal state, and her grandmother’s mental illness worsened significantly.